Canigou Group are partnering with Carfer Energy, a Spanish renewables developer to develop multiple projects across Spain and the Canary Islands. The first of these projects are set to start development in Q2 2024. In Spain there are good opportunities for hybrid projects, so we will start with solar PV but aim to have hybrid wind and solar projects on these sites. 

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Canigou has a good partnership with Carfer Energy and we share a goals for developing renewable generation in the area to mitigate climate change and benefit the local economy. 

 

Why Spain?

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Reason 1: Growth in the Spanish Solar market

Spain is seeing a continued resurgence in the development of its Renewable Energy generation targets in line with the European Union targets. Having over come the grave error of retrospective price changes to energy contracts in the early 2000’s, the renewed emphasis has brought with it a renewed investor confidence. EY currently place Spain 8th out of 40 countries in their latest Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index. The country is already very popular with wind and solar technologies but with the country’s population being concentrated in certain areas the novel approach of hybridisation is beginning to show fruit.These projects maximise both power yields and also smooth generation profiles which in turn reduce grid balancing stress. They can be smaller and are best suited to semi-urban and industrial areas where issue with grid connectivity and planning are not as big a hindrance as they would be in a remote rural location.

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Reason 2: Land Use

In terms of land use, combining multiple renewable energy technologies in a single site allows for a more efficient use of resources. By using a hybrid approach the total land area required can be reduced, resulting in lower costs and increased efficiency.Furthermore, hybrid sites can be located in areas that are more suitable for one type of renewable energy than another, such as windy areas for wind turbines, or sunny areas for solar PV, which in turn can help to reduce the overall costs associated with land acquisition.When combined with energy storage options such as static batteries the attractiveness is enhanced furthermore. The two intermittent generating profiles of wind and solar can smooth each other out to give amore secure base load profile augmented by storage

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Reason 3: Government incentives and technology development 

With concern regarding theirCAPEX, hybrid renewable energy sites can be more cost-effective than single-technology sites due to the cost of the necessary infrastructure being spread across multiple technologies, resulting in lower costs compared to using a single technology. In certain jurisdictions, hybrid sites are often able to access more generous government subsidies and incentives than single-technology sites and may go through an easier planning process or environmental impact assessment due to size.​

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