6MWn photovoltaic installation within arico municipality

The project is to pilot a model for evaluating the technical and economic viability of connecting medium-to-high power solar energy installations to the grid without a specified financial return, in line with current legislation.

To this effect, the installation must be designed and implemented which prioritises technological and managerial efficiency and significantly reduces construction and operational costs, to provide guaranteed profit margins and so ensure the project is attractive to potential investors.

For this reason, the criterion of cost of energy production will be critical to offering a competitive selling price that provides reasonable profit margins and an adequate return on investment.

To meet this objective, the structure and the inverters required to connect to the grid will be manufactured by ITER. Similarly, some of the photovoltaic modules will be produced at ITER’s photovoltaic modules factory, which became operational in 2008.
In addition, a plan of action is to be drawn up to ensure that the installation is built as rapidly and efficiently as possible, by minimising time and costs, and optimising the available human and material resources.

The entire system will be installed within Tenerife’s Arico municipality, and will consist of 60 solar photovoltaic plants of 100kW nominal power each, providing a total of 6MW nominal and 7 MW peak output.

The use of 100kWn nominal power units meets the power requirements of the inverters and unit standardisation, integrating seamlessly with the system’s inverters and transformers. The system will be structured electrically as 3 groups of 20 solar plants, each connected to a prefabricated transformation centre with a capacity of 2000kVA.

The aim of the initiative is to develop a more sustainable model for energy generation that provides a local economic resource of high added value. In turn, it will help build a diversified economy based on technology, innovation and knowledge, provide a source of employment and reduce the area’s need to buy energy externally, while also helping to create a more efficient electrical system with the resulting economic and environmental benefits.

The project’s various components will be introduced with a view to optimising the project’s overall technical and economic efficiency, while always focusing on the aim of developing a model that can be replicated to help boost local economic growth in other settings.

This action is included in the Strategic Framework for Insular Development (MEDI) 2016-2025.