Iberdrola, Grupo Mondragon, the Provincial Council of Álava and the EVE join forces to build 100 MW solar PV plant in the Basque Country

Iberdrola, Grupo Mondragon, the Álava Provincial Council, and the Basque Energy Agency (EVE) have created a large Basque public-private alliance with the aim of building what will be the largest photovoltaic plant in the Basque Country: EKIENEA. In it, the Basque electricity company has a 75% stake; the EVE, with the commitment of adherence of the County Council, with 20%, and the cooperative group, through Krean, with 5%.

he project, located on the Lacorzana estate, in the municipality of Armiñón (Álava), was presented this morning to the Lehendakari Íñigo Urkullu by the President of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán; the president of the Mondragon Corporation, Íñigo Ucín; the Deputy General of Álava Ramiro González and the general director of the Basque Energy Agency, Íñigo Ansola. During the meeting, in which the Minister of Economic Development and Infrastructure, Arantxa Tapia, also participated, the promoters of EKIENEA gave an account of the details and dimensions of this new development.

With 100 megawatts (MW) of installed power and an investment of around EUR70 million (US$78.9 million), this large renewable installation will generate clean energy to satisfy the annual consumption of more than 160,000 people, half the population of Álava, and will almost triple the Euskadi's current solar generation capacity, close to 60 MW. In addition, its production will prevent the emission into the atmosphere of 25,000 tons of CO₂ per year.

EKIENEA will extend over 200 hectares, of which 100 will be occupied by the photovoltaic plant and the other 100, by land destined for environmental compensation and preservation of forest areas. It is anticipated that the project can begin to be executed in 2022, due to the previous processes of environmental observation and administrative processing, and that its start-up will take place after a year of construction, in 2023.