BayWa r.e. has announced that agricultural work has recently commenced at Alhendín solar park in South Granada, Spain, in association with environmental and community measures, thanks to an innovative PPA agreement with Velux Group enabling the flagship 54 MWp solar farm to integrate renewable energy generation with agriculture and biodiversity.
Alhendín began delivering electricity to the local power grid in May of this year. The solar farm includes an Agri-PV system that combines energy generation with agricultural production, allowing modern farming machinery to pass between the solar panel rows. It is the first Agri-PV installation that BayWa r.e. has built in Spain.
The solar farm has enabled Velux to achieve its 100 percent renewable electricity target, while enabling a new renewable energy plant in Europe and delivering on its 2030 sustainability targets. Alhendín consists of three types of PV technology: fixed, tracking and Agri-PV and has more than 85,000 solar panels, producing 96.8 GWh of electricity annually – equivalent to the electricity consumption of 24,700 households.
“We are happy to see the pioneering concept of Solar Plant Symbiosis taking shape for our Alhendin project” said Rafael Esteban, Managing Director of BayWa r.e. in Spain. “Thanks to the partnerships with the Universidad de Córdoba and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, we have developed a bespoke site strategy that encompasses biodiversity and social integration. This means that, in addition to its Agri-PV capabilities, the solar park includes a comprehensive suite of social and environmental measures to enhance local biodiversity and foster community involvement. We plan to replicate this type of initiative in our upcoming projects we have under development.”
Around 10 percent of the solar farm is designed to allow farming machinery to pass between solar panels.
The agricultural land will be left as it is or seeded with crops of hay that do not require any chemicals throughout the whole useful life of the Agri-PV plant. The crop will then be harvested in the spring, with the agricultural activity conducted by local farmers.
A number of environmental and biodiversity measures are scheduled for Alhendín. A vegetation screen or perimeter planting around the solar farm has already been completed, serving as a refuge for wildlife and improving landscape integration.
In October and November, the agricultural section of the plant was sown with fodder crops, including grassland, wild species, and flowers. These promote the solar farm’s integration into the natural environment and support the development of pollinating insects.
BayWa r.e. also installed a hatching infrastructure in one of the two nesting towers built for the native lesser kestrel to promote the establishment of the species in the territory. Further measures will include the creation of wildlife refuges, rainwater collection, drinking tanks, ponds, as well as nesting boxes and posts. Camera traps will also be implemented to monitor terrestrial mammals, while line transects will be conducted to monitor rabbit populations. To ensure local birds in the area can be observed and thrive, listening points will be executed, and passive recorders installed.
Follow-up biodiversity measures will continue into early-mid 2025. This will also coincide with crop harvesting and the release of sheep onto the land, followed by the release of lesser kestrel chicks over the summer as part of the hatching technique.
Social community measures are also in place, including informative talks with local communities. School field trips to the site are also planned for this month and 2025, plus experts from the solar farm will host educational discussions with students in the local Alhendín and La Malahá schools.
Source - https://www.renewableenergymagazine.com
