PROJECT ROUND-UP: BNZ plans 49MWp plant in Portugal, Centrica signs VPPA in Spain

31 May 2022: Independent power producer (IPP) BNZ has secured authorisation for a 49MWp solar project it plans to develop in Portugal.

Due to be operational in 2023, the plant is BNZ’s first in Portugal, a market where it expects to install more than 400MWp of solar PV by 2024.

A portfolio company of clean energy fund manager Glennmont Partners, Barcelona-headquartered BNZ announced earlier this year that it will develop a 473MWp solar portfolio in Spain.

The company currently has a pipeline of more than 1GW of solar under development in Spain, Portugal and Italy.

Centrica pens VPPA for Spain project

30 May 2022: Energy services company Centrica has signed a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with developer Matrix Renewables for a 24MW solar park in Spain.

Centrica will offtake power production from the project in Andalucía as of July 2023, with the output to be sold in balancing and merchant power markets.

Madrid-headquartered Matrix Renewables was launched by investment platform The Rise Fund and alternative asset management company TPG in 2020.

The Centrica deal marks Matrix’s sixth PPA in the last eight months, with the companies now working to expand their partnership across Spain and Europe.

Idemitsu Renewables completes 73MW plant in California

1 June 2022: IPP Idemitsu Renewables has brought a 73MW solar project in California to commercial operation.

Located in Tulare County, the Luciana plant will now supply power to East Bay Community Energy, a public agency that operates a community choice energy programme, through a 15-year power purchase agreement.

Idemitsu Renewables CEO Cary Vandenberg said his company is proud to achieve commercial operation at the plant “considering the unprecedented supply chain challenges the industry faced this past year”.

Idemitsu is the US-based renewables arm of Japanese petrol giant Idemitsu Kosan.