The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed to provide €26m funding for solar energy development projects in Spain.
The EIB signed a funding agreement with Spanish multinational firm IM2 Energía Solar at the COP25 climate change summit in Madrid, committing support worth €26m for IM2’s Solar Storm 200 renewable energy investment vehicle. The funding provided by the EIB will support the implementation of 15 new photovoltaic solar energy power plants in Spain’s Andalusia, Extremadura, Murcia and Valencia regions; operating at a total capacity of 218MW, providing 400 jobs during the plants’ construction and an additional 20 permanent jobs on their completion.
IM2 Energía Solar has around 16 years of experience in photovoltaic energy production in Spain and Chile. CEO Enrique Selva said: “The Spanish photovoltaic power sector is growing exponentially and Solar Storm is a major opportunity to invest in clean energy, in a project combining sustainability and long-term profitability. We have the opportunity to take advantage of Spain’s high levels of sunshine (the highest in Europe) and a highly cost effective technology to generate energy that can compete economically with other technologies.”
The solar energy funding agreement, which is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), is expected to cut Spain’s carbon emissions by 116,000 tonnes per year.
EIB Vice President Emma Navarro, who is responsible for the bank’s efforts to address climate change and its enterprises in Spain, said: “It is a pleasure to be at the Climate Change Conference supporting projects such as this that will help cut CO2 emissions and increase the amount of renewable energy generated in Spain. Our country has great potential for producing this kind of energy and the EIB wants to help take advantage of this. As the EU climate bank, the EIB is working to ensure that Europe leads the response to the climate emergency.”
