BayWa r.e. has powered up its first agri-solar park in Spain, a 54MW facility near Granada, providing renewable power to Velux Group. This innovative solar park combines agriculture and biodiversity initiatives, ensuring sustainable practices and environmental benefits. The Alhendin-based solar plant, now fully operational and connected to the Spanish electricity grid, features over 85,000 solar panels. Approximately 10% of the park is designed to accommodate farming machinery, supporting agricultural activities alongside energy production.
The park includes various biodiversity initiatives such as baseline studies, digitalization and monitoring of vegetation, grass planting with natural seeds and wildflower species, wildlife refuges, ponds for amphibians, bird drinking tanks, nest boxes, posts, and a hatching area for the endangered Lesser Kestrel bird species. This project is financed through a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Velux Group, which also announced another PPA in November 2022 with BayWa r.e. for a solar park in Gerena, near Seville. The Gerena solar park, expected to be 60MW in size, is awaiting regulatory approval and is scheduled for completion in 2025. Daniel Gafke, Global Director of Projects and Executive Member of the Board at BayWa r.e., expressed his enthusiasm: “We are delighted to support Velux in reaching its goal of 100% renewable electricity for its European operations. This achievement represents an important milestone in BayWa r.e.’s own commitment to advancing the corporate energy transition that is so pivotal for meeting global climate targets. We are aligned with Velux to go above and beyond normal standards, which allows us to implement pioneering elements like agri-PV, as well as improving biodiversity and fostering community engagement, for maximum local value creation.”#SustainableEnergy #AgriPV #RenewablePower #VeluxGroup #BayWare #SolarEnergy #Biodiversity #GreenEnergy #EnergyTransition #ClimateAction
Credit: [Image: BayWa r.e.]