Nuñez de Balboa, Europe's largest photovoltaic plant, begins generating electricity.

This facility, with its 500 MW maximum power, and considered the largest photovoltaic plant on the old continent, has been connected to the Spanish electricity grid by Iberdrola

Exactly one year ago we learned that what was going to be the largest photovoltaic solar plant in Europe was beginning to be built in the Extremaduran municipality of Usagre, in the province of Badajoz. One year later, and five months ahead of schedule, Nuñez de Balboa, named after the well-known Spanish conqueror, has delivered its first green megawatts to the Spanish electricity grid, as reported by the electricity company Iberdrola in a press release.

This mega-renewable energy complex, capable of supplying green energy for 250,000 people, started up this Monday, April 6, at 12 noon, following the announcement by the company led by Ignacio Sánchez Galán de accelerate the investments planned for 2020, which will reach 10 billion euros. An example of this is the Community of Extremadura itself, where Iberdrola has six photovoltaic projects in its pipeline that will total 1,300 MW:

• Francisco Pizarro (590 MW)
• Ceclavín (328 MW)
• Arenales (150 MW)
• Campo Arañuelo I, II and II (150 MW)
• San Antonio (50 MW)
• Majada Alata (50 MW)

About Nuñez de Balboa

The Nuñez de Balboa photovoltaic plant will be capable of generating 832 GWh annually and will have a maximum power capacity of 391 MW. It has involved a total investment of 290 million euros, as well as the creation of 1,000 jobs.

The plant is located on an area of ​​around 1,000 hectares and has 288,000 foundations on which 1,430,000 photovoltaic panels are installed. With 115 inverters to convert the direct current produced by the panels into alternating current and more than 2,000 kilometers of medium and low voltage cables, Nuñez de Balboa will prevent the emission of 215,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere per year.