Spanish photovoltaics developer Solaria has received construction authorisation to commence building its 595MW Garoña solar project in the province of Burgos, northern Spain.
The site will replace the Santa María de Garoña nuclear plant, which is reaching the end of its useful lifespan.
Solaria said that, with this approval, it “reiterates its objective of reaching 3GW by the end of 2024”. An operational date for the Garoña site was not disclosed.
Upon completion, this project would be one of the largest solar installations in Spain.
In September 2023, Solaria closed a €1.7 billion (US$1.8 billion) financing framework agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support the development of 120 solar PV projects across Italy and Portugal, as well as its native Spain. Solaria said that the cumulative capacity of the plants would be around 5.6GW once the entire 120 reach operation by the end of 2028, though the Garoña project was not explicitly named.
In its H1 2023 financial results, Solaria said that it plans to invest €2.6 billion into European projects over the next three years.
In its updated national energy and climate plan (NECP), Spain is looking to reach 76GW of installed solar PV by 2030. This nearly doubles the previous target of 39GW.
