ESPARITY SOLAR’S PROJECT TO BUILD TWO SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC PLANTS IN THE ALICANTE MUNICIPALITIES OF NOVELDA AND MONÓVAR GOES ON PUBLIC EXHIBITION

31st August 2022

Esparity Solar’s “Salinetas” and “Salinetas II” projects, each with 50MW of power, are now open to the public. As is characteristic of the solar plants developed by Esparity Solar, all of them have compensatory measures such as the inclusion of vegetation barriers and hunting fences and are located in areas with positive urban planning compatibility.

The "Salinetas" and "Salinetas II" projects

The “Salinetas” and “Salinetas II” projects, located in the Alicante municipalities of Novelda and Monóvar, can be found in radiation zones IV and V. These zones are considered the best in Spain. This also translates into annual performance levels of more than 2,000 kWh/kWp in each infrastructure and with horizontal radiation values of more than 1,800 kWh/m2 in Novelda and more than 1,700 kWh/m2 in Monóvar. Each of the plants will save more than 120,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions during their entire life cycle and generate 205,555 MWh/year, equivalent to the average consumption of more than 58,000 Spanish households. Both “Salinetas” and “Salinetas II” are currently in the process of obtaining the Certificate of Excellence in Sustainability promoted by UNEF (Spanish Photovoltaic Union), as both share with “Cordovilla (150MW)” and “Safarich (50MW)”, projects already awarded this Certificate, similar characteristics in terms of the implementation of measures for the protection and conservation of biodiversity and socio-economic measures beneficial to the populations of each site.

Esparity Solar, the developer of photovoltaic solar projects, equips all its plants with effective environmental measures.  The company promotes social benefit through its business philosophy thus in turn supporting initiatives that directly and indirectly enrich the context and value of its projects.

Compensatory measures included in the projects and Public Participation Plan (PPP)

The compensatory measures included in the environmental impact study of the projects incorporate hunting fences and vegetation strips for landscape integration. This takes into consideration the natural topography, native vegetation and the visual organisation of the landscape as relevant references. They also have favourable studies of birdlife with a complete annual cycle, positive urban planning compatibility and additional protection measures for fauna to preserve and increase the biodiversity of the environment. It is also intended to reach agreements with livestock farmers in the vicinity of the projects to offer them the possibility of grazing their livestock in and around the areas of the solar photovoltaic installations.

At the same time, Esparity Solar has included a PPP in both projects, in which local residents and anyone interested can participate by submitting questions that will be answered and suggestions that will be taken into account when processing the projects. The aim of the PPP is to find out how the public assesses the landscape of the area in which the construction of the facilities is planned in order to manage the effective intervention of the participants in the preparation of the Landscape Integration Study (EIP) of the project in question.

Sections of line and environmental sensitivity index of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITERD)

The projects have one section of overhead line and one underground section. This is an advantage when it comes to reducing the level of landscape impact of the evacuation infrastructures, as they already have access and connection permits shared with other developers. In order to further reduce the impact of the projects’ evacuation infrastructures, these are shared with other developers who have access and connection permits at the REE substation to which the energy generated by each of the renewable energy production facilities will be transmitted.

MITERD considers the location of the “Salinetas” and “Salinetas II” projects to be of very low environmental sensitivity, as it gives them an average index of practically 10, with 1 being the highest value and 10 the lowest possible. This figure shows that both projects have little environmental impact on the environment. The GeoPortal can be accessed through this link on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: https://sig.mapama.gob.es/geoportal/

At the same time, the biodiversity studies and complete annual cycles of birdlife carried out in the area during the processing of the projects have certified the suitability of the location of the solar plants. The results of these investigations are favourable for birds or other endangered species in all cases.

Kobus Partners and Esparity Solar

Kobus Partners, an independent fund manager specialising in the renewable energy and energy infrastructure sector, achieved an agreement with Esparity Solar in December 2021 securing all necessary resources for the construction, connection and operation of the projects “Salinetas” in Novelda – Alicante (50 MW) and “Salinetas II” in Monóvar – Alicante (50MW). These solar plants are expected to start generating renewable and sustainable energy from 2023.

This collaboration will help Kobus Partners and Esparity Solar to achieve their established objectives in terms of sustainable energy transition through the production of green and economically accessible energy, thus reducing the current dependence on fossil fuels.