Iberdrola España starts the commissioning process of its first photovoltaic project in Salamanca

• The company has earmarked more than €33 million for this project, which reinforces the company's innovative and renewable leadership in the region.
• With a capacity of 50 MW, the plant, located in the Salamanca municipality of Villarino de los Aires, will generate enough clean energy to supply a population equivalent to 26,000 homes and will prevent the emission of 12,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere per year. 
• Its development has had an important local component, both in terms of industrial suppliers and the involvement, at peak periods, of up to 250 workers, which has contributed to the revitalisation of the economy and employment in the area.
• Villages are emerging as a guarantee for the future with numerous initiatives based on 'green' principles that boost their activity and their population.

Iberdrola España has completed the construction of its first photovoltaic project in Salamanca, the Villarino plant, with a capacity of 50 megawatts (MW) located in the municipality of Villarino de los Aires, and is already immersed in the work of the commissioning process.

The company has allocated more than €33 million to this project, which reinforces the company's innovative and renewable leadership in the region.

This new solar energy production facility with more than 110,000 photovoltaic modules will generate enough clean energy to supply a population equivalent of more than 26,000 homes and will also prevent the emission of 12,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere per year.

Its development has had an important local component, both in terms of industrial suppliers and the involvement, at peak periods, of up to 250 workers, which has contributed to the dynamization of the economy and employment in the area.

Iberdrola España works on numerous initiatives that combine the installation of renewable projects with the conservation of the biological diversity of ecosystems, caring for flora, fauna and natural heritage. In this case, it has placed a vegetation screen around the plant made up of real and potential vegetation in the area that will serve to integrate the installation into the environment in a natural way.

It will also install nesting boxes for the European roller, a species in clear decline in the area, as well as refuge and breeding boxes for bats. It will also build fire-fighting corridors and four water tanks to support forest fire-fighting teams.

In addition, the company will carry out forestry treatments and reforestation, in addition to Quercus pyrenaica, with other species such as Sorbus torminalis, Sorbus doméstica, Pyrus bourgoreana, Malus silvestris, Prunus spinosa, and in areas with water, Fraxinus sp, Salix salvifolius and Salix atrocinerea and, to a lesser extent, Juglans regia and Celtis australis will be planted. A series of measures aimed at improving the state of conservation and favouring the ecological processes of the Pyrenean oak and its associated fauna have also been proposed.

A new energy landscape that fixes population in rural areas

Iberdrola España promotes renewable energies as an engine for rural development and in this way the villages emerge as a guarantee for the future. This is the case of the villages in Castile and Leon that Iberdrola España is promoting and which will contribute to a sustainable recovery, allowing the creation of local employment.

Also in Salamanca, Iberdrola España will invest €200 million to build another photovoltaic plant in Ciudad Rodrigo - 318 MW -, one of the largest installations of its kind in the region.
The company's photovoltaic plant project in Miróbriga will involve industrial suppliers in the area and create up to 800 jobs during peak periods. It will supply 150,000 homes and avoid the emission of 75,000 tCO2 per year.

The company is also currently developing two other photovoltaic facilities in the region totalling 400 MW -Velilla and Virgen de Areños III-. Last year, it also started up its first photovoltaic plant in the region in the province of Burgos -Revilla-Vallejera (50 MW), and has already installed the first wind turbine at the Buniel wind farm (104 MW) and is very close to completing the construction of its first hybrid wind and solar facility in Spain.

With these projects, Iberdrola España reinforces its commitment to Castilla y León, which is consolidating its position as an important centre for renewable energy developments in the company's investment cycle to 2025, where it already operates more than 5,150 MW, making it the autonomous community with the most 'green' megawatts installed by the company.

The best initiatives for the coexistence of renewable energies, nature and people were recently recognised at the first edition of the Iberdrola CONVIVE Awards. The Burgos town council of Revilla Vallejera was one of those honoured by the company.