French utility Engie, a global leader in designing, building, and operating utility-scale photovoltaic solar farms and renewable energy projects, plans to invest nearly EUR 100 million (USD 116.3 million) to add a 155-MW solar farm to its Castelnou combined-cycle gas-fired power station in the Aragon region, northeastern Spain, creating a hybrid generation complex.
As per Engie’s Spanish unit (Engie Espana), the solar project will be built alongside the 790.68-MW Castelnou plant in the province of Teruel and will include more than 284,000 photovoltaic panels spread across 360 hectares.
“The hybridization scheme will optimize the complementarity between gas-fired and renewable generation, helping to integrate more solar power into the electricity system while maintaining flexible generation capacity to support grid stability,” the company remarked.
Engie Espana announced the plans as it marked the 20th anniversary of the Castelnou plant, which entered operation in 2006 and is the only combined-cycle gas plant in Teruel province.
“The facility, equipped with two gas turbines and one steam turbine supplied by Mitsubishi, operates with an efficiency of more than 55%. The addition of the solar farm is part of the site’s technological evolution and supports its strategy of reducing emissions while maintaining security of electricity supply,” Engie Espana said.
Talking about Engie’s renewable energy portfolio in the Aragon region, the company has assets including the 194-MW Goya wind complex, which consists of seven wind farms in Zaragoza province, and the Phoenix project, a group of ten wind farms with more than 340 MW of installed capacity.
However, Engie is expanding its renewable portfolio in other parts of the European country as well. In April this year, the company acquired 278 MW/1,112 MWh of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects under development in Andalusia, southern Spain.
It bought the projects from Spanish developer Rolwind Renovables, which has been working on them since 2022. The acquired package includes the 200-MW/800-MWh Palmosilla project in Tarifa and the 78-MW/312-MWh Cerrillo project in Alora. While these two projects represent the largest standalone battery storage developments currently in progress in Spain, they will also be including synchronous condensers to enhance grid inertia and improve system reliability.
Construction is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2027, with commissioning targeted for 2028. Total investment, on the other hand, is expected to exceed EUR 240 million (USD 280.4 million) between 2026 and 2028. The projects have also received EUR 70 million in grants from the European Regional Development Fund.