With a $276 million investment, Spanish utility Naturgy has begun construction of a 300 MWdc solar photovoltaic (PV) facility in Texas. The 7V Solar Ranch plant is being developed on more than 800 hectares of land in Fayette County and is expected to be operational by 2023. The project marks the beginning of the development of the solar and energy storage portfolio that Naturgy bought from Hamel Renewables in 2021.
The solar project will feature 555,600 solar PV modules and will be able to generate 560 GWh of electricity per year. During construction, it is planned to create 200 jobs on average, with approximately 600 workers on hand at peak times. The solar power plant will be Naturgy’s largest in the world, and it will be located near Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas.
In April 2022, Equinor signed an agreement with Naturgy to compete in Spain’s upcoming offshore wind auction. The country’s first offshore wind auction is slated to take place in 2023 off the coast of the Canary Islands. Its mission is to support the Spanish government in attaining its target of installing up to 3 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
REGlobal’s Views: The United States, with its new policy direction towards deployment of cleaner energy sources, has become a top investment hotspot for developers and investors from across the world. Naturgy entered the US renewable energy market in early 2021 with the purchase of the massive 8 GW solar plus storage portfolio from Hamel Renewables.
