Spain: solar plant site data
Solar power plant in Bilbao, Spain: yield, tilt angle and row spacing
Bilbao: 1,171 kWh per kWp a year at the optimal tilt of 36°, 1° east of south (PVGIS). 27.5% below the median of the main cities of Spain (1,615). #146 of 147 main cities of Spain by yield. For comparison, Kyiv: 1,114 kWh/kWp — 5.1% more here.
Bilbao is in the province of Biscay, Basque Country. Population 347,342 (GeoNames). 20 m above sea level. 245 km away: Zaragoza, the nearest bigger city, 1,624 kWh/kWp — 27.9% less here. 7.67 m between rows, pitch 11.54 m, GCR 0.41 (latitude 43.3°).
- Yield of 1 kWp
- 1,171kWh/year
- Tilt
- 36°1° east of south
- 10 kW
- 11,706kWh/year
- Row pitch
- 11.54m · GCR 0.41
- Rank in the country
- 146of 147 cities
Ground frame designer
A ground frame for a solar plant: Bilbao
Latitude 43.3°: the tilt and the row pitch follow it. Enter the snow and wind for Spain in the designer, by the national annex to the Eurocode.
- No sign-up
- Snow and wind check
- Drawings and estimate
Yield by month
July: 122 kWh/kWp, January: 64 — 1.9 times less.
January: 64 against the median of 109 for the main cities of Spain, 41.3% less.
| kWp | A year | July | January |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 5,853 | 610 | 320 |
| 10 | 11,706 | 1,220 | 640 |
| 15 | 17,559 | 1,830 | 960 |
Fixed tilt facing south
What a table yields at another tilt than the optimal 36° — for roofs and frames with a standard slope.
| Tilt | A year | Against the optimum |
|---|---|---|
| 36° (optimum) | 1,171 | — |
| 15° | 1,111 | −5.1% |
| 30° | 1,165 | −0.5% |
| 45° | 1,162 | −0.8% |
| 90° | 804 | −31.4% |
Snow and wind loads
Snow and wind loads for a site in Spain follow CTE DB SE-AE (Spain’s Código Técnico de la Edificación) and, where the Eurocodes are applied, UNE-EN 1991-1-3 and UNE-EN 1991-1-4 with the Spanish National Annex. Solispec computes loads by the Ukrainian DBN V.1.2-2 only, so this page shows no snow or wind values for Spain: enter the characteristic values from these documents in the designer’s «Own snow S0» and «Own wind W0» fields.
The frame calculation for such a site is preliminary: before installation it must be checked by an engineer who works to the country’s standards.
Nearby cities
Sources
- PVGIS © European Union, 2001–2026 — yield, tilt and azimuth, data as of 2026-10-10
- GeoNames (CC BY 4.0) — coordinates, elevation, population and divisions (changed)
- Where to take snow and wind loads from: CTE DB SE-AE
- How these numbers are computed
Preliminary calculation: a design needs an engineer’s check.