Lightsource BP targets utility and corporate solar PPAs in Iberia

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
 The company is now looking to capitalise on the newly-signed Lisbon Declaration. Credit: Lightsource

Lightsource BP has moved into the Iberian energy market and plans to work with local partners to purchase and co-develop utility-scale ground-mount solar sites as well as to create a greenfield pipeline of solar projects across the Iberian Peninsula.

Based in Madrid, the company aims to deliver electricity through power purchase agreements (PPAs) with both utility and corporate customers. Corporate PPAs are already booming in Spain in an era of grid parity.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

Lightsource BP already operates a 2GW solar portfolio across Europe in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy. Last December Lightsource announced that it had agreed a partnership with oil and gas giant BP, wherein the latter would invest US$200 million (~£155 million) in Lightsource over three years in exchange for a 43% stake.

The company is now looking to capitalise on the newly-signed Lisbon Declaration, which aims to increase the capacity of the energy interconnection between the Iberian Peninsula and Europe. In a release, the firm said that reportedly €865 million has been set aside for the construction of interconnections that will demand additional energy generation to meet the increased supply.

Nick Boyle, Lightsource BP Group CEO, said: “The Iberian power market is changing dynamics. The shift towards subsidy-free, liberalisation, interconnectors and growing interest in PPA projects has led to a new boom across the sector and we are set to capitalise on this opportunity. The beauty of solar is that it is flexible and quick to deploy. With our strong track record in financing and innovation, we are focussed on playing a significant role in the addition of new generation capacity into the Iberian power market.”

Lightsource BP confident of exceeding 8GW 2023 target

Last month, Boyle said he was confident that the firm would exceed its 8GW target capacity by 2023.

When Lightsource and BP announced their partnership last December, they said the agreement would “supercharge” Lightsource’s development capacity, and the two are now confident, after almost a year of collaboration, that it will exceed expectations.

Speaking at the BNEF Future of Energy Summit back in October, Boyle said that prior to the arrangement, Lightsource had started to spread its reach into international markets including India and the US. But the firm soon identified that some of the skillsets it had acquired from developing almost 2GW of solar in the UK and Europe were “not necessarily transferrable worldwide”.

Boyle said that in the past 10 months BP had been able to “open doors” for Lightsource that had previously remained shut, and had made recruitment of high-calibre talent significantly easier. The firm is now active in 11 overseas markets instead of three, with Egypt, Brazil and Australia among them, and Boyle said Lightsource BP was setting its sights high.

Having previously set out to take its deployed capacity to around 8GW, Boyle said Lightsource BP was now confident it would outpace that target.

Additional reporting by Liam Stoker.

2 December 2025
Málaga, Spain
Understanding PV module supply to the European market in 2026. PV ModuleTech Europe 2025 is a two-day conference that tackles these challenges directly, with an agenda that addresses all aspects of module supplier selection; product availability, technology offerings, traceability of supply-chain, factory auditing, module testing and reliability, and company bankability.

Read Next

October 6, 2025
An expert panel has identified a series of grid failures that led to April's unprecedented power outage in Spain and Portugal, ruling out renewables as the leading cause.
October 2, 2025
Spanish waste management company Trabede and energy firm Greening Group will build a solar module recycling plant in Granada, Andalusia, Spain.
September 21, 2025
Lightsource bp has commenced work on a co-located battery energy storage system (BESS) at a 585MWdc solar PV plant in Australia.
September 19, 2025
EdgeMode has acquired a portfolio of data centre assets in Spain, with plans to build a 300MW solar, 1.2GWh storage facility at the sites.
September 17, 2025
Spanish IPP Velto Renewables has acquired a portfolio of 53 operational solar assets in Spain with a combined capacity of 260MW.
September 17, 2025
For the third year in a row, self-consumption installs have fallen in Spain, with 611MW of new additions in the first half of 2025, according to a report from trade body APPA Renovables.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK