Spanish food producer relies on PV and self-consumption

09/26/2022 | Print view

613 kilowatts of peak photovoltaics work for Spanish food manufacturer Embutidos y Jamones Ezequiel against rising electricity prices. - © Kostal — © Kostal

613 kilowatts of peak photovoltaics work for Spanish food manufacturer Embutidos y Jamones Ezequiel against rising electricity prices.

Food producer Ezequiel, based in northern Spain, invested in a 613-kilowatt photovoltaic system. This now supplies clean electricity from the company's roof for the production of high-quality food - a smart investment.

Embutidos y Jamones Ezequiel is a food manufacturer, restaurant and store at the same time and now relies on solar energy and the Piko CI 60 inverter from Kostal for its energy production. The Spanish company has connected eight Piko CI in series to convert the extracted energy from the 613 kW solar panels into usable energy for its operations.

The traditional company from Villamanín in Castile has been producing high-quality food since 1945. The company is also progressive when it comes to energy generation and decided to install two photovoltaic roof systems. For the inverters, the choice fell on the Piko CI 60 from Kostal, which has been connected eightfold in series by means of a daisy-chain connection, thus enabling detailed monitoring. The Piko CI inverter was designed specifically for small and medium commercial applications, making it an ideal candidate for a company like Ezequiel.

Commercial inverter is the heart and brain of self-generation

Commissioning via Piko CI app thanks to standard WLAN made the set-up much easier. Since the free app takes into account valid guidelines of the target country, setup in Spain is just as straightforward as in Germany or other countries. The Piko CI also offers a convenient solution for updates: it takes hardly more than one click and the master device parameterizes all connected inverters accordingly. Other advantages include 4 PPT trackers for maximum flexibility.

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In the summer of 2021, the Spanish government approved a package of subsidies worth 1.3 billion for solar installations, storage and air conditioning for renewable energy, financed by the Next-Generation-EU fund. With more than 3,000 hours of sunshine a year, Spain has ideal conditions for a successful energy transition.

The company's monthly electricity consumption at two locations averages 420,000 kWh. The decision to install a self-consumption system was mainly due to the volatility of the electricity market in recent months, whose uncontrolled price increases had a direct impact on the profit and loss account. (hcn)