Progress on the Construction of a 140 MW Solar Plant

The Capella Solar wind power plant, being built by Neoen in El Salvador, is 90% complete and is scheduled to begin operations in April 2020.

Monday, December 23, 2019

From Neoen's statement:
 
December 23rd, 2019. Neoen, a world leader in renewable energy and long-term investor in El Salvador, closes 2019 by developing the final phase of construction of its second photovoltaic project in the country, called Capella Solar. The percentage of progress exceeds 90%, which means an optimal management of the project, even with the projection that the works will be completed earlier than scheduled. The energy injection tests have begun in time to meet the contractual start of operation, signed for April 1, 2020.
 
Capella Solar is a project that will inject nearly 4% of the energy of the wholesale market in the country, with two plants, called Albireo I and Albireo 2; together they have a capacity of 140 MW. Its generation will amount to the energy consumed annually by 255 thousand average households.
 
The Capella Solar project will inject energy at the most competitive price in El Salvador: about 40% less than the price of the cheapest operating contract in the market. The project was awarded with 20-year power purchase agreements - with local distributors AES, Delsur, EDESAL and B&D - at a price of $49.55/MWh.

According to Neoen El Salvador's general manager, Paolo Cartagena, the work now focuses on developing the implementation plan. During the first weeks of December, the foundation has been laid for the execution of test protocols to energize the plant, ensuring that each of the 412,000 photovoltaic modules will generate power. Among these protocols are the testing of protections, voltages and ground connections. In addition, under close cooperation with the Transaction Unit (TU) and the ETESAL transmitter, data communication tests and technical audits have been carried out, in order to specify the process of connecting the plant to the transmission grid.
 
At the same time, Neoen is working on maintenance and environmental management activities. So far, more than 4,160 typical trees of the area have been planted (jocote, maranon, maquilishuat, chaperno blanco, mahogany and almond tree, among others), in order to strengthen the gestation of the new ecosystem, which includes the development of vegetation control processes, which mitigates the risk of fire and allows the desired rotation of the photovoltaic modules.
 
In addition to expanding the share of renewable energy in the Salvadoran energy matrix, the construction of Capella Solar means a relevant technological transfer to the country through the installation of the largest energy storage infrastructure in Central America: a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 3.3 MW/2.23 MWh, dedicated to reserve services, which will strengthen the stability of the electricity network. The experience of this technology has been capitalized by Neoen on an international scale, where its leadership stands out.

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