The Portuguese group Greenvolt Next entered the Spanish industrial photovoltaic self-consumption market a year ago with the aim of participating with a 2% share and is already close to achieving it. Its longer-term goal is to reach 340 megawatts (MW) of power by the end of the decade.
This is stated by the CEO of Greenvolt Next Spain, Remigio Abad, in conversation with La Información. “That Greenvolt Next has opted for Spain is not a coincidence, but rather responds to a highly planned strategy to contribute to the transformation of the country,” he emphasizes.
After his first exercise in the national territory, Abad is clear about what the company’s role should be. The Greenvolt Next Spain strategy will revolve mainly around two areas: the industrial sector and energy communities. “We hope to establish ourselves as a reference company both for the quality of our facilities and for our human team,” he says.
“Close and financially accessible formula”
Regarding the industrial segment, the firm’s objective is to continue promoting the growth of electrical self-consumption among the different sectors and companies that have not yet considered it as a “close and financially accessible formula.” Abad highlights that this is both a challenge for the company and “for a country that aspires to be an example of green energy.”
However, the manager highlights that another way to continue growing will be collective self-consumption, which in addition to multiplying savings through energy communities, “opens multiple windows of additional income through capacity markets.” Likewise, it also considers it “essential” to offer battery storage solutions that are profitable and that economically justify the need to rely on the sun as a means to save on the electricity bill.
When asked about the balance of his first year in Spain, Abad is ambitious and prefers to wait to respond until the year is completely over. “There is still a year ahead and we intend to make the most of it, but in general terms it has been a year of operational consolidation. We have worked to build the foundations of a solid, solvent and technologically at the forefront company, capable of facing it at a work pace. “Very high,” he argues.
The CEO of Greenvolt Next Spain explains that the company’s objective continues to be to achieve 340 MW of power by 2030 despite the solar ‘boom’ of the last year. He added that the forecasts that were made were already “ambitious” and that they avoid the market’s own peaks in different periods. “However, we are confident that we will be able to overcome them,” he adds.
Year of consolidation
Abad indicates that 2024 will be a year of consolidation for the company, after leaving a preparation course, in which the recruitment and training of personnel has been “fundamental” and hiring has increased by 66%. Greenvolt Next Spain has signed several agreements with associations focused on being part of the energy transition and that have found in the company an operating partner that offers renewable solutions. One of them is the one signed at the end of October with the Galician hotel group Alda Hotels.
The Greenvolt Next Spain technical headquarters is located in Albacete and was inaugurated in the middle of this month. The new facilities, located in the Business R&D Center Building, house the company’s more than 40 employees in its 235 square meters. In addition to Spain and Portugal, the Portuguese consortium has a presence in Poland, Greece, Italy and Ireland.
No major alliances at the moment
At a time when there are more and more alliances in the renewable energy sector, Abad rules out that the company is considering, in principle, any action of this type. “We are in our first year, a year where results have tripled compared to previous years and for now we hope to continue growing organically as before,” he clarifies.
“Everything seems to indicate that 2024 will be the year in which the growth of photovoltaic solar energy is consolidated in our country. The forecast is that Spain will continue to lead self-consumption in Europe in 2024, as it is already doing this year, where almost 5 GW in the two years, although it will be carried out at a more stable speed. Within the photovoltaic market, PPAs (power purchase agreements) will continue their upward trend thanks to greater interest from the industrial sector and the deployment of large photovoltaic plants. The residential sector will be the one that will notice the greatest decrease, in line with what it has experienced this year, affected by the reduction in the cost of electricity that has occurred in recent months,” he says.
