Iberdrola’s First Solar Park in Germany: we supply core 33-kV technology for grid connection

Iberdrola has commissioned Ormazabal to supply the medium-voltage solution for its first German solar park project. The solution enables the green energy generated to be fed into the public power grid. The Boldekow solar park in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania went into operation in May 2025 and will now generate more than 53 gigawatt hours of environmentally friendly electricity annually

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

The switchgear is designed for an operating voltage of 33 kV and a rated current of 1250 A. As the connection between the power transformer and the solar park, the cpg.0 comprises one panel for feeding the transformer, one panel for the supply transformer and three outgoing 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 expertise in the development and implementation of public power distribution infrastructure and grid connection projects for renewable energies. Our combined experience 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 worldwide. In each case, we have developed solutions, that were tailored to the individual technical requirements of the respective countries.

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

Remote monitoring

As the plant is monitored and remotely controlled from Iberdrola’s CORE control centre in Spain, the Ormazabal solution 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 switch.

Alongside the German solutions team, experts from Ormazabal in Spain were also involved in integrating the communication technology. Thomas Höfkens, Solutions Manager at Ormazabal Germany, comments: “I am proud of our broad-based, international team. The project itself is located here in Germany and can be controlled on site – but also easily remotely from the Spanish control centre. This saves the customer’s O&M team travel and service costs.”

Specifications and requirements

In addition to complying with local technical connection conditions (TAB), the station had to meet Iberdrola’s specifications, including comprehensive documentation and approval procedures via the energy company’s own project management platform.

Thanks to many years of cooperation, our project engineers were already familiar with these processes, which enabled smooth integration.

To ensure reliable and efficient project execution, Ormazabal supported Iberdrola throughout the planning, implementation, installation and testing phases. ‘The cooperation with Iberdrola’s project team was very collaborative,’ says Thomas Höfkens. ‘It is important that the customer has a dedicated contact person who provides support throughout the entire project. In this case, this included weekly status meetings to accompany the process from start to finish.’

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

Sebastian Böttcher, Head of Networks and Grid Connections at Iberdrola Germany, comments: ‘It is a great pleasure to be working with a strong partner who shares our objectives to contribute to European energy independence and in particular to the German energy transition in the heart of Europe. The synergies of two companies with strong roots in Spain and Germany have been fully exploited. My sincere congratulations – and enhorabuena (congratulations in Spanish) – to the international teams at Iberdrola and Ormazabal.’

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