Jamon Salamanca is one of Spain’s largest producers of what is regarded as the best ham in the world, Jamón Ibérico. The company has now taken another step towards a more sustainable future. On the roof of one of their largest sites outside Salamanca, they now have a 2 MW solar PV system with 3,690 solar panels.

“For us it was an easy step to install solar panels. It is a natural part of our decarbonization journey.” says Javier Fernández Merinas, Director of Operations at Jamón Salamanca.

Zero investment and tech risk

Even if solar energy is a proven technology it requires competence and resources for continuous monitoring, maintenance and repairs to ensure the system always is performing at the highest possible level. Instead of making an investment and taking this operational responsibility, Jamon Salamanca made the decision to go for solar energy as a service, a so-called Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA), from Bright Sunday.

“The Power Purchase Agreement was a strategic choice for Jamón Salamanca.” says Jamón Salamanca’s Project Manager, Santiago Martin. “It has a clear advantage of zero upfront investment for the system and support liquidity for the company. This allows us to focus on our core business operations while still benefiting from CO2 free energy. We are actually also reducing our energy cost”

Smooth installation process

The actual technical installation of the solar PV system took about 4 months. 

“The installation process actually went faster than the initial time plan and had no impact at all on our operations. Even if we haven’t been involved in the work it’s good to know what is happening on our site and roof. The communication with both Bright Sunday and SolarTec has been very clear and transparent” says Santiago Martin, Jamón Salamanca.

The decarbonization journey continues

The solar PV system will produce more than 2,700,000 kWh per year of new clean energy for the next 30-40 years.