Invest in Spain

The roof of the factory owned by the United States multinational in Figueruelas (Saragossa) will become the largest solar plant of its kind in the world. It will have production capacity of 10 megawatts and will require an investment of 50 million euros. For its construction General Motors has joined forces with French company Veolia Environnement, North American company Clairvoyant Energy and the Aragon Regional Government.

Veolia and Clairvoyant are constructing a 10 megawatt solar plant at GM in Figueruelas, which will be owned and operated by an alliance comprising the two above-mentioned companies and the Aragon Regional Government. The total investment will be 50 million euros. The plant will produce 15.1 million kilowatt hours, enough to supply 4,600 families a year. Estimates for resulting reductions in atmospheric emissions amount to almost 7,000 tons of CO2.

The electricity produced will enter the general grid and will be sold to Endesa, with which a 25 year contract has been signed with the possibility of an extension of another 10 years. Around fifty operators are working on the construction of the plant, due to be ready in September. The solar park covers a surface area of 183,000 square meters on the roof, the equivalent of 42 football fields. 84,848 solar panels are being installed at average rate of 2,000 per day.

This is an ‘emblematic project’ that required partners with a ‘vision of the future’. This is how Arturo Aliaga, Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism in the Aragon Government, and Carl-Peter Foster, President of General Motors in Europe, defined the project during speeches given at the presentation of the new solar plant.

Foster said the pioneering installation would provide major benefits to the community and the city, with energy being channeled back into the local network, and would also benefit General Motors in its largest manufacturing plant in Europe by reducing costs. He went on to explain that the other ten manufacturing plants and eight component production plants owned by the multinational in Europe were following developments closely with a view to setting up similar installations.

Foster highlighted the fact that the group had spent years experimenting with cars that use photovoltaic panels, such as the Chevrolet Volt that has a range of several hundred kilometers and the option of recharging batteries before journeys or even during journeys. “The goal is to mass produce vehicles with a long range by 2010 in the United States and a little later in Europe” explained Foster.