Construction is due to begin this month and will be the fifth solar power plant that SunPower will have designed and constructed for NaturEner Group to date, and one of the largest to be commissioned n Spain this year.

SunPower is also responsible for providing operations and maintenance services under the agreement.

Rafael Sanchez-Castillo, CEO of NaturEner Group said, ‘SunPower’s turnkey services will ensure that the plant is operational by the end of the year.’

SunPower’s tracker technology will be used on the project incorporating the company’s Serengeti solar panels, which it said require only half the lad area to produce the same amount of energy as conventional dual-axis trackers and can follow the sun to deliver up to 25 percent more energy than fixed systems.

The system, which avoids panel shading while increasing energy production, will be used in tandem with a smart grid system to enable the solar plant and NaturEner’s nearby hydraulic power plant to share a utility grid connection.

SunPower has more than 550MW of solar systems installed or under contract, 225MW of which is operational in Europe. SunPower has previously designed and constructed 29MW of solar power plants for NaturEner in Spain, located in the Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura regions.

NaturEner Group, which has hydro, wind and solar photovoltaic assets in Spain and North America through its subsidiaries NaturEner USA and NaturEner Canada, is headquartered in Madrid, Spain, with US offices in San Francisco, California, and Canadian offices in Calgary, Alberta.

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