Under a brutal August sun, which saw the mercury rise to record-breaking levels throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the western region of Extremadura in Spain became home to the largest solar farm in Europe. Comprising one and a half million solar panels, the Franciso Pizaro solar farm will produce enough energy to power over 334,000 homes and prevent 150,000 tonnes of carbon entering the atmosphere every year.
The Franciso Pizaro solar farm’s status as the biggest solar farm in Europe is likely to be short-lived, but the next project that takes the throne is destined to be a fellow compatriot. Solar energy in Spain is set to rapidly surge in the next eight years, demonstrating the effectiveness of national leadership combined with local flexibility and cooperative business models. The result is a country making headway towards its target of generating 74 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 100 % by 2050, revealingly in contrast to the UK where, during an energy crisis, the refusal of permission for solar farms reportedly added £100 million to energy bills.
In 2020, solar capacity in Spain sat at 13.2 gigawatts (GW). By 2030, under current policy and investment plans, that capacity is set to exceed 72 GW – a more than five-fold increase in a decade. And it is not just utility-scale solar that is grabbing the headlines – rooftop solar is also popping up throughout Spain. In 2021, rooftop solar on private properties increased by 102 percent compared to the previous year, as domestic self-consumption grew from 19% in 2020 to 32 percent of the total in 2021.
Spain’s heritage of cooperative business structures is also helping to unleash the power of the sun. Cooperatives in Spain date back to the mediaeval guilds but became more widespread during the 19th century through the farming cooperative movement. Thanks to a variety of policy changes at a national level and the legislative flexibility afforded to devolved local authorities, solar energy cooperatives have blossomed throughout Spain as high energy prices dramatically reduce the payback time of installing solar systems and local communities push ahead with becoming energy self-sufficient.
Lessons for rapid transition
- Sweating their natural assets and organisational legacies: huge amounts of sunshine and the large and undeveloped plains of Spain make it perfect for large-scale solar development. Pair this with a long and productive history of cooperatives in Spain, and you have got the ingredients for a solar revolution.
- National leadership combined with local flexibility: The new Spanish government has been steadfast in its dedication to the energy transition, setting out a variety of national policies. The sophisticated level of devolution through Spain’s 17 autonomous regions has provided much-needed flexibility so governments can match policy with local needs.
- Global shocks force an energy re-think: The ongoing turmoil on international markets has caused many nations to reassess domestic energy policy and security. Sky-high fossil fuel prices make cheap renewable generation a no-brainer.
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Source: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-09-07/solar-power-surges-in-spain/