ib vogt sells and constructs 180 MWp PV plant in Spain
ib vogt has announced the sale and start of construction of the 180 MWp “Bienvenida” photovoltaic project in Badajoz, Spain. The Talanx Group, one of the major European insurance groups and institutional investor, has acquired the plant. ib vogt has set up an innovative long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) for the project with Shell Energy Europe and will perform all operational contracts for the project delivery and operation.
The Bienvenida project was initially acquired as an early stage development project by ib vogt in 2017 and developed to achieve a capacity of 180 MWp on only 175 hectares of land located in Extremadura, one of the sunniest places in Spain. With a fully wrapped EPC contract and full lifetime operation for the client, ib vogt provides a one-stop service to meet the investors needs whilst removing interface risks otherwise widely common in the market. ib vogt has developed and successfully implemented an innovative power contracting structure with Shell Energy Europe, who will buy the produced energy. The agreement between the parties includes an attractive price hedging that balances price volatility while remaining exposed to opportunities in the Spanish power market.
“The solar park ‘Bienvenida’ represents an excellent fit with our direction and strategy,” explained Dr Thomas Mann, Chief Investment Officer of Talanx. “The investment allows us to diversify our asset portfolio and this enables us to manage the volatility in our portfolio in a more controlled way, since we will benefit equally from wind and solar power. Moreover, the sheer size of the solar park allows us to better support the environmental transformation to a zero-carbon emission society – in this case by means of industrially generated green energy,” he added. “Furthermore, it helps us to counteract the low-interest phase with higher returns on investment.”
Anton Milner, CEO of ib vogt GmbH, stated: “This project is the culmination of a number of years of development work and is the first of a series of major “grid parity” projects that we are developing in Southern Europe. Importantly, these will help drive the penetration of clean electricity in Europe on a stand-alone economic – unsubsidised – basis. We are delighted and proud to be working with the Talanx Group and to be able to support their sustainability and portfolio objectives. In Talanx we have a partner that shares our objectives and approaches in driving the implementation of this important technology in the fight against climate change. We would also like to thank all of our partners in this complex project and especially the local commune where we will be creating long term employment opportunities.”
ib vogt continues to expand its development, EPC, operation and maintenance capabilities in the country in preparation to commercialize further projects of its substantial Spanish pipeline. Currently, the German integrated developer is accelerating works on a pipeline of major solar PV projects in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia, which do not rely on public support mechanism. Those projects will be commercialized in the coming years with our partners and clients.
