The Diplomat
Iberdrola has completed construction of the Conde plant, located in the municipality of Palmela, in the district of Setúbal, which has 13.5 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity and is the group’s second photovoltaic installation in the country, the company said.
Specifically, the installation, which will prevent the emission of 6,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere per year, has 25,000 solar modules that will produce enough clean, cheap and indigenous energy to cover the annual consumption of 5,000 homes.
The company said that the project, which has involved an investment of nearly 11 million euros, has generated up to 100 jobs, mostly local.
This is the energy company’s second photovoltaic installation in Portugal, after Algeruz II, with a capacity of 27 MW, which is already in operation following its commissioning last August in the district of Setúbal.
Both photovoltaic plants belong to the lot obtained by Iberdrola in the public auction held in 2019 by the Portuguese Ministry of the Environment and Energy Transition, through the Directorate General of Energy and Geology, and organised by the Operador do Mercado Ibérico de Energía (OMIP), in which the company was the largest winning bidder with a total of seven projects.
The Alcochete I and II solar plants, which are currently under construction in the town of the same name, also belong to this batch. The work, which will be completed this year, will create up to 180 jobs. With a combined capacity of 45.6 MW, both projects involve an investment of 38 million euros.
These parks will have bifacial solar modules, which increase energy production by up to 30% compared to traditional panels, thanks to the fact that both sides of the panel manage to absorb the sun’s energy. In addition, bifacial cells reduce the average cost of electricity by 16%.
When they come into operation, Alcochete I and II will be able to supply enough green energy to meet the needs of 26,400 households for a year, which is more than the total population of the municipality of Alcochete.
Iberdrola’s portfolio is completed by the 36.5 MW Montechoro I and II projects in Paderne (Albufeira) and the 64 MW Carregado project in Alenquer (Lisbon), which are in the process of obtaining a construction licence. When all these facilities come into operation, the energy company will have 187 MW of photovoltaic power in Portugal.
In addition, Iberdrola has an extensive portfolio to develop 2,000 MW of photovoltaic power in different parts of Portugal in the coming years.
It also plans to build a wind power complex linked to the mega pumped-storage hydroelectric plant that the company has inaugurated in Alto Tâmega, in northern Portugal. These facilities will turn the complex into a hybrid generation plant and, with its 400 MW of installed capacity, constitute one of the largest wind power projects in Portugal.
