Cuenca, 16/12/2025 – Organon has signed a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) with Schneider Electric to bring photovoltaic solar plants online in the province of Cuenca, according to reporting by Energías Renovables. The multi-year contract aims to secure renewable supply for the pharmaceutical firm’s local operations and to help finance new solar installations.
What is publicly confirmed in the available coverage:
- Contract type: VPPA (Virtual Power Purchase Agreement)
- Term reported: 10 years (framework for virtual energy procurement)
- Location: Province of Cuenca, Castilla–La Mancha, Spain. Exact municipalities and geographic coordinates were not published in the article consulted.
- Reported capacity for the initial installation: ~177 kW (article references an installation at this scale).
Technical specifications and reasoned estimates
Because a full technical datasheet (module model, tilt, plant aggregation) was not published, the following are conservative estimates based on regional solar resource and industry norms:
- Reported nominal capacity (single cited installation): 177 kW. If the VPPA covers multiple sites, aggregated capacity could be higher, but no aggregate figure has been disclosed.
- Estimated annual generation: with typical irradiance for central La Mancha of ~1,600–1,700 kWh/kW·yr, a 177 kW system would produce roughly 280–300 MWh/year (≈292 MWh/yr using 1,650 kWh/kW·yr).
- Module efficiency: commercially available silicon panels in 2024–2025 commonly range 19%–22%; system-level efficiency accounting for inverter, temperature and operational losses typically yields 76%–85% of raw resource.
- Capacity factor: roughly 18%–20% for fixed-tilt plants in that latitude; single- or dual-axis tracking can lift production several percentage points.
CAPEX and ROI scenarios
Absent published CAPEX or VPPA strike price, illustrative scenarios (explicit assumptions):
- Typical small-scale CAPEX in Spain (2024–2025): 600–1,000 €/kW installed. For 177 kW this implies ~€106k–€177k.
- Energy value assumptions: VPPA or avoided retail value could range widely; for modeling we use 0.06–0.12 €/kWh. Annual revenue estimates:
- At 0.06 €/kWh: 292,000 kWh × €0.06 ≈ €17,520/yr
- At 0.10 €/kWh: ≈ €29,200/yr
- At 0.12 €/kWh: ≈ €35,040/yr
- Simplified payback (CAPEX / annual revenue), excluding O&M and incentives:
- CAPEX €130k, price €0.06/kWh → payback ≈ 7.4 years
- CAPEX €130k, price €0.10/kWh → payback ≈ 4.5 years
- CAPEX €170k, price €0.06/kWh → payback ≈ 9.7 years
Market context and implications
- Scale: the publicly cited 177 kW suggests a small-to-medium installation (typical for rooftop/compound-scale projects). A province-wide VPPA could cover several such installations or scale to multiple MW if aggregated, but no such totals were disclosed.
- Schneider Electric role: while the article confirms Schneider Electric as counterparty, their typical role in similar deals is structuring the VPPA, providing electrical balance-of-system components and offering integration/O&M services; the report itself lists only the signing.
- Sensitivities: actual ROI and emission reductions depend critically on the VPPA strike price, market settlement mechanisms, connection costs and any subsidies or tax treatments.
Conclusion
The VPPA between Organon and Schneider Electric, as reported by Energías Renovables, fits corporate decarbonization strategies by locking renewable volumes and enabling project finance. Public disclosure to date is limited: the only explicit technical figure is an installation of roughly 177 kW, and neither exact locations nor financial terms of the VPPA were published. A precise impact and ROI assessment requires access to the VPPA terms or a project-level engineering/economic dossier.
If you want, I can attempt to retrieve the original Energías Renovables article and/or contact Schneider Electric press materials to search for a full technical brief and the VPPA financial terms for a more rigorous financial model.
