DWS has bought three operating solar plants in Badajoz, in western Spain, from X-Elio. Together they come to 131.68 MW, and they have been running since mid-2023. Neither side disclosed a price. That has not stopped the deal from becoming a reference point for what operating Spanish solar is worth.
Key takeaways
- DWS Group announced on 9 April 2024 that it had acquired a 131.68 MW portfolio of three operating solar plants in the municipality of Medina de las Torres, Badajoz, Spain, from X-Elio.
- DWS and X-Elio did not disclose the price of the Badajoz solar portfolio; Enerdatics estimates the consideration at about $132 million, or about $1.00 million per MW.
- Leap's project records list the three Badajoz plants as Los Llanos I at 49 MW, Los Llanos II at 35.68 MW and Los Llanos III at 47 MW, with a combined recorded investment of about $110.5 million.
- Enerdatics estimates that power from the Badajoz portfolio is sold under utility PPAs, based on X-Elio's previous Spanish divestment and comparable solar assets in Badajoz.
- Among 15 priced operating Spanish solar deals Enerdatics recorded from January 2023 to June 2025, the estimated $1.00 million per MW for DWS ranks joint fifth highest, against a median of $0.92 million per MW.
How does Enerdatics arrive at a price nobody disclosed?
An estimated value is Enerdatics' own assessment of a price the parties chose to keep private. Leap marks the DWS figure as an estimate rather than a reported number. It should be read that way: as a calibrated view of what three operating plants of this size and age would trade for, not as the cheque DWS wrote.
The estimate lands at about $132 million, almost exactly $1.00 million for each of the portfolio's 131.68 MW. That round number is a useful anchor because it sits just above the cluster where most operating Spanish solar has changed hands, as the ranking below shows.
There is a second way to test it. Leap's project records put the original investment for the three Los Llanos plants at about $110.5 million in total, with financial close in June 2021. If the estimate is right, DWS paid about 19 percent more than it cost to build the plants. For an operating asset with a contracted revenue stream, a premium to build cost is what investors pay for having construction risk behind them.
What sits behind the three Los Llanos plants?
The portfolio is three plants in the same municipality rather than one large site: Los Llanos I at 49 MW, Los Llanos II at 35.68 MW and Los Llanos III at 47 MW. All three started operating in mid-2023 and together are expected to supply the equivalent of 91,800 households a year.
The revenue model is the part Enerdatics has had to infer. Enerdatics estimates the power is sold under utility PPAs, long-term contracts with power companies rather than with corporate buyers. The reasoning is twofold: X-Elio's previous asset sale in Spain was backed by a utility PPA, and other solar assets in Badajoz of similar size carry the same kind of contract. If that holds, DWS has bought a contracted cash flow rather than full exposure to wholesale power prices.
Watson Farley & Williams advised DWS and Pinsent Masons advised X-Elio. The purchase followed DWS' investment in Energiepark Lausitz in Germany.
Where does $1.00 million per MW rank?
Ranked from the highest price per MW, the 15 priced operating Spanish solar deals in Enerdatics' data from January 2023 to June 2025 start with a 42.74 MW distributed generation portfolio at about $1.99 million per MW in May 2023. Next come a 96 MW deal at $1.37 million in July 2023, a 1,066 MW portfolio at $1.24 million in June 2023 and a 37.83 MW deal at $1.08 million in December 2023. DWS follows, joint fifth at about $1.00 million per MW alongside a 40 MW deal from October 2023.
Below DWS the prices tighten. A 59.35 MW deal printed at $0.99 million in May 2025. A 2,000 MW portfolio sold at $0.92 million in July 2024, and a 494 MW plant at $0.91 million in December 2024. Further down sit a 99 MW deal at $0.90 million in November 2023, a 446 MW portfolio at $0.89 million in March 2025, a 50 MW deal at $0.85 million and two deals of 81 MW and 104 MW at $0.81 million each, all around the turn of 2025. The bottom of the range is a 644 MW deal at about $0.69 million per MW in April 2024. Several of the largest portfolios priced below $0.95 million per MW, so a 131.68 MW deal near the top of the main cluster is not out of line.
Enerdatics' data shows 33 operating Spanish solar transactions from January 2023 to June 2025, of which 15 carry a price per MW. The median is $0.92 million per MW and the middle half of the range runs from $0.87 million to $1.04 million. DWS sits inside that band, near its upper edge. Deal flow has also thinned: Enerdatics counts 20 such transactions in 2023, five in 2024 and eight in the first half of 2025, which makes each priced deal a heavier reference point. The same cluster of prices appears in Enerdatics' analysis of how Norges Bank bought into an Iberdrola portfolio before it was built, which uses the DWS deal as one of its comparables.
What does the deal signal for Spanish solar?
Operating Spanish solar has settled into a narrow price band. Buyers of small, contracted portfolios pay around $1 million per MW, and several of the largest portfolios trade lower. Within that band, the visible differences between deals are size and how the output is contracted.
The bigger signal is about financing. Owners keep reworking how much debt operating Spanish plants can carry, as Encavis did when it refinanced two Spanish solar parks with four banks. Debt terms on operating plants feed directly into what an equity buyer can afford to pay. For a buyer like DWS, a utility-contracted portfolio near $1 million per MW is a bond-like holding, and the estimate suggests it paid accordingly.
Frequently asked questions
What did DWS buy from X-Elio? DWS acquired three operating solar plants totalling 131.68 MW in Medina de las Torres, Badajoz, Spain: Los Llanos I, II and III, which began operating in mid-2023.
How much did DWS pay for the X-Elio solar portfolio? The price was not disclosed. Enerdatics estimates the consideration at about $132 million, or about $1.00 million per MW.
How is power from the Badajoz plants sold? Enerdatics estimates the power is sold under utility PPAs, based on X-Elio's previous Spanish divestment and comparable Badajoz solar assets.
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