The CO2FrAMed Project kicks off

At the beginning of the year, the European CO2-FrAMed (CO2-free agriculture for the Mediterranean region) project started, which will last for a total of 66 months, until June 2027, although the main work is being carried out only during the first 3 years.

The project aims to develop 12 autonomous and distributed high-power photovoltaic irrigation systems, totaling 7.35 MW peak. These systems will be located in the Ebro Valley, through Renewable Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) contracts for the supply of 100% renewable energy to pumping stations through direct connections. This will decongest the weak grid in the rural areas of this region and save 17,702 tons of CO2 equivalent over 10 years.

The project coordinator is the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Other project partners are engineering and energy consultancies (Cingral, QPV and ISF). On the user side, the Comunidad General de Riegos del Alto Aragón and FENACORE (Federación Nacional de Comunidades de Regantes de España) are partners of CO2-FRAMED.

The development of the project aims to reduce the average cost of electricity in decentralized photovoltaic plants, through the acquisition of 100% photovoltaic electricity through a set of contracts under the renewable PPA model. This allows to reach the scale volume to reduce investment and maintenance costs (CAPEX and OPEX).

Another objective of CO2-FRAMED is to achieve that the developed PV projects can be qualified as green bonds with valid collateral, and that they can also be categorized as a safe investment class for capital market oriented investment instruments.