Meet the Team: Eva Plaza | OWC Iberia

At OWC, our teams are constantly expanding into more locations, in expertise, and in sectors of influence. Our people are at the heart of what we do, and we invite you to get to know our team members so you can meet the energy behind change.

This week, we say ¡Hola! to Eva Plaza, a Principal Consultant for onshore wind and solar, based in our Madrid office!

Position: Principal Consultant – Onshore Wind and Solar

Office: Madrid

Describe Your Work in Three Words: Technical, Versatile, and Multi-Tasking

Hobbies Outside of Work: Travelling, Zumba, and Yoga!

Typically, I would be handling the technical aspects of several projects at once; these may be at different stages, and from either onshore Wind or Solar technologies. My broad background allows me to pivot through a wide range of activities, from checking proposals and reports, to completing EYA reviews, analysing a variety of meteorological and physical datasets, or assessing the losses and uncertainties for a project.

I am particularly enjoying the knowledge exchange with my new colleagues, the client interactions, and the constant opportunities to attend workshops and conferences.

What unique challenges and opportunities do you anticipate in the Iberian market, and how can OWC help our clients navigate and capitalise on these developments?

The Spanish Wind industry is claiming that, to achieve the 2030 target of 50GW, we need to be installing four times the number of projects we are installing right now, and this need can be extrapolated to other technologies in the renewables realm. To give an example, Spain has roughly 8,5 GW of onshore wind farms which have been installed for over twenty years, and some of those projects will be eligible for repowering soon, either to increase export capacity or reduce visual impact amongst other goals.

Incentives would help investment in existing and new projects, but the true bottleneck in Iberia are the nodes for interconnection, together with the auction and permitting processes. Development of coupled battery energy storage systems, clear auction directives and refined legislation to expedite permits from the government would (and should) accelerate the renewables industry.

OWC’s expertise in onshore and offshore wind, solar and storage, can help our clients and partners make technically driven decisions to penetrate or increase their market share, support their investments, and ultimately achieve 2030 goals.

As a Madrid local, what does it mean to you personally to support Iberia’s renewable energy transition?

After ten years working internationally, being back in my hometown supporting OWC Iberia means I can transfer back all the knowledge and lessons learned I gathered over that time into the European market.

Contributing with all that experience to Iberia’s renewable energy transition is such a rewarding feeling for me.

What role do you see Iberia playing in the global transition to renewable energy over the next decade?

Spain is forecasted to be one the cheapest Energy markets in Europe, and this will be also thanks to the development of renewable projects over the next decade. Collaboration between the 27 European countries in the energy transition will be key, and for Spain this will be especially true with our neighbouring countries, Portugal and France, where we will be targeting to evacuate our energy overflow, in the future as generation becomes greater than its demand.

What’s your favourite part of working with a global team like OWC?

Continuing working with a global team at OWC, with a strong footprint in Europe and an increasing one in the USA, is allowing me to reach my full potential. Multidisciplinary projects and multicultural colleagues and clients get really the best out of me and my background! I must confess that dealing with up to three different languages on any given day at work, is triggering a nice sense of pride. I could not be happier of my role and contribution to OWC’s mission to de-risk and drive the energy transition!