This largest European solar plant, which has been in operation since April 6th, has an installed capacity of 500MW. It is owned by Iberdrola, a Spanish multinational electric utility company based in Bilbao. This very large solar plant is part of Iberdrola’s strategy in Extremadura that foresees an extension of up to 2,000MW in the region.
Located in Badajoz, between three municipalities, and with more than 1,000 Ha of surface, this power plant required an investment of almost 300 million. More than 30 suppliers have been involved, one of which was Dilus Instrumentación y Sistemas S.A., responsible for the delivery, installation and commissioning – via the construction company Eiffage – of 20 meteorological stations, satisfying the strict requirements of the developer.
This project consisted of 6 fully equipped and 14 partly equipped weather stations, which makes an average of 1 weather station per 25MW. The 6 complete weather stations were equipped with instruments for the measurement of the following parameters:
- Solar irradiance (2 pyranometers)
- Wind Direction (1 anemometer)
- Wind Speed (1 anemometer)
- Temperature and Humidity (1 hygro-thermograph)
- Precipitation (precipitation meter)
- Panel temperature (3 temperature sensors)
The 14 partially equipped stations were fitted with instruments for measuring:
- Solar irradiance (2 pyranometers)
- Temperature and Humidity (1 hygro-thermograph)
- Panel temperature (3 temperature sensors)
Signal measurement remains of the highest quality
DILUS has worked closely with Eiffage, and also with Green Power Monitor. Green Power Monitor was commissioned to monitor the plant’s design as well as the integration and final installation of the meteorological stations. Their job has been to assure that from the very start, the meteorological data was being processed in the best possible manner and that the signal measurement was, and remains, of the highest quality. In the context of the PR, both factors are critical to obtaining the plant performance certification required for the start of operation.
With this, as with all renewable energy operations and the other divisions of the company, DILUS demonstrates its commitment to the high quality of its measuring systems and to the complete process of implementation of meteorological stations. DILUS meets the strictest requirements in design, installation, monitoring and maintenance of solar power plants, before and after start-up.
In order to achieve excellence DILUS has several world-leading partners in the instrumentation sector, such as Kipp & Zonen and Thies Clima, of which DILUS is the exclusive distributor in Spain. Furthermore, DILUS has extensive experience in integrating systems with clients as demanding as AEMET State Meteorology Agency, for whom it has been a benchmark for 40 years in the field of meteorological and environmental instrumentation.
