Abengoa Solar and E.ON Climate & Renewables have formed a partnership that will see them jointly own and operate two 50MW Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants. The plants which are already under construction are located in Ecija (Seville), Southern Spain, one of the best areas in Europe in terms of solar radiation.

The 50:50 partnership is aimed to invest a around of 550 million Euros into the two plants which will start operation in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The solar facilities will produce enough power to supply 52,000 homes and avoid the emission equivalent to 63,000 tonnes of CO2.

The participation of E.ON in the projects is however still subject to the EU–Commission approval under merger control.

Santiago Seage, CEO of Abengoa Solar, explained,"Having E.ON on as a partner in these projects will allow us to continue growing at the speed we want and to improve our capabilities in areas where E.ON has extensive experience".

Frank Mastiaux, CEO of E.ON Climate & Renewables said, “Solar Power will be the next strong pillar in E.ON’s renewables portfolio. Our entry into CSP complements our recent moves into the photovoltaic business and we will now stand on two feet in solar in the future. I am also delighted to be working with Abengoa. We have found an experienced partner with whom we want to drive CSP to new levels of performance”.

The President of E.ON España, Miguel Antoñanzas, pointed out,“With this partnership for high quality projects E.ON continues its commitment to enhance its portfolio of 3.700MW of generation capacity in the Iberian Peninsula, of which over 1.100MW are already from renewables sources”.

Tags: E.ON