Iberdrola's first solar park in Germany: We supply key 33 kV technology for grid connection

Iberdrola has commissioned Ormazabal to supply the medium voltage solution for its first solar park project in Germany, the Boldekow solar park, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which went into operation in May 2025 and will generate more than 53 gigawatt hours of environmentally friendly electricity per year.

This solution enables the generated green energy to be fed into the public electricity grid.

At Iberdrola’s Boldekow substation, a transformer connects the 110 kV high-voltage grid to the medium-voltage power distribution system. We supplied the complete collection station with five cpg.0 medium-voltage switchgear panels, which form the core of the substation infrastructure.

The equipment is designed for an operating voltage of 33 kV and a rated current of 1250 A. As a connection between the transformer and the solar park, the cpg.0 includes one panel for feeding the transformer, one for the supply transformer, and three output panels for the solar park.

Moving forward together

With this project, Iberdrola continues its expansion in the German renewable energy market and further strengthens the long-standing cooperation between our companies. Both Iberdrola and Ormazabal bring decades of experience in the development and implementation of public electricity distribution infrastructure and grid connection projects for renewable energy. Our combined expertise makes us strong partners for the energy transition.

Projects such as Ciudad Rodrigo and Pizarro (Spain), Santiago, La Ventosa and La Venta (Mexico), Pyrgari (Greece), and Tâmega (Portugal) have been jointly implemented around the world. In each case, we have developed solutions tailored to the specific technical requirements of each country.

The Boldekow solar park in Germany has more than 80,000 solar modules and a total capacity of 56 MWp. Iberdrola needed a complete collection station with a short delivery time for its substation. Despite the current difficulties in finding stations on the market, we were able to meet this requirement thanks to a Gritec station equipped with primary distribution switchgear and state-of-the-art communication technology from Ormazabal.

Remote Monitoring

As the plant is remotely monitored and controlled from Iberdrola’s CORE control center in Spain, the Ormazabal solutions team integrated the communication technology into the customer’s SCADA infrastructure in accordance with the IEC 61850 protocol. The system includes our own ekor.rpa200 protection device with control and measurement functions, as well as a switchgear.

In addition to the German team, experts from Ormazabal in Spain also participated in the integration of the communications technology. Thomas Höfkens, Solutions Manager at Ormazabal Germany, comments: “I’m proud of our international team. The project is located here in Germany and can be controlled on-site, but also easily from the control center in Spain. This saves the customer’s operations and maintenance team travel and service costs.”

Specifications and requirements

In addition to meeting local technical connection conditions, the station had to conform to Iberdrola’s specifications, including comprehensive documentation and the relevant approval procedures via the energy company’s project management platform. Thanks to years of collaboration, our project engineers were already familiar with these processes, enabling a smooth integration.

To ensure reliable and efficient execution, Ormazabal supported Iberdrola throughout all phases of the project: planning, implementation, installation, and testing. “The collaboration with the Iberdrola project team was very cooperative,” says Höfkens. “It is important that the client has a dedicated contact person who accompanies them throughout the entire project. In this case, this included weekly follow-up meetings from start to finish.”

As part of the Iberdrola substation, the collection station also had to meet specific local requirements for the building permit, including fire protection and structural calculations. Our team configured the station in accordance with Iberdrola’s fire protection concept and ensured compliance with all design and approval processes, including the building’s structural calculations.

Sebastian Böttcher, Head of Networks and Grid Connections at Iberdrola Germany, comments: “It is a great pleasure to work with a strong partner that shares our goals of contributing to European energy independence and, in particular, to the German energy transition at the heart of Europe. The synergies between two companies with strong roots in Spain and Germany have been fully utilized. My sincere congratulations – and well done – to the international teams at Iberdrola and Ormazabal.”

Under a long-term direct supply agreement with Vodafone, the solar park at Boldekow will supply 100% of its green energy to Vodafone, enough to power around 3,000 mobile phone masts and avoid 20,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year.