Largest solar power plant in Portugal (and without subsidized tariff) will be inaugurated this Saturday – O Jornal Económico
The biggest photovoltaic solar power plant in Portugal will be inaugurated today, Saturday, October 9th. Located in Alcoutim, district of Faro, Solara 4 has an installed capacity of 220 megawatts (MW) spread over a discontinuous area of 320 hectares.
One centrally located in Martim Longo will have the capacity to supply a city with 200 thousand inhabitants annually, for example, cities like Braga (181,000) or Amadora (175,000).
The first stone of the project was laid in 2017, and the project then had the participation of China Triumph International Engineering (CTIEC), but the Chinese left and the project was completed by the Irish from WeLink who have been in the project since the beginning.
“The plant will go into full operation in the next few days”, said to JE Hugo Paz, the plant’s director, explaining that the start of production of solar plants always takes place gradually.
The initial investment planned was 200 million euros, but a revelation by WeLink that was below this amount, targeted that the “value was optimized”.
WeLink even thought of carrying out a phased entry into service of the plant: as it was concluding the construction of blocks, it would start with such an operation. But that idea was put aside, and the company preferred to wait to get started at 100% with a complete plant completed.
Hugo Paz reveals that the “project was in difficulties” has evolved that the Covid-19 pandemic “has greatly affected” the construction of the plant, which was interrupted for some time. “Nobody knew what Covid was. We decided to suspend activities for a while”.
This plant is not entitled to subsidized tariffs, which is why when the energy price in March 2020 sank, transmission by economic stop, a WeLink feared for the profitability of the project, as it had to sell the tariff on the market. “This created discomfort for investors. There was a difficult time. Fortunately, that was surpassed”, says Hugo Paz.
At a time when electricity prices reach successive records in the Iberian wholesale market, due to the scale of natural gas prices and CO2 emission concessions, a WeLink considers that the entry into operation of this mega solar power plant is good news. “This energy is cheaper, especially when compared to natural gas”.
For the future, Hugo Paz considers that Solara4 “has the potential to be improved. There is a lot of potential here to explore”.
“The objective is to improve this center with an incorporation of the storage system. We have to study this issue and find the ideal economic model”, points out the WeLink manager.
Remember that WeLink was also responsible for the construction of Ourika, a solar plant located in Ourique, district of Beja, and currently the largest solar plant in operation in Portugal, with 46 megawatts (MW), and without the production subsidy. The plant was sold by the Irish in 2018 to the Germans from Allianz Capital Partners.
Asked if WeLink is interested in selling Solara4, Hugo Paz merely replied that the “asset is very appetizing” and that “markets are the ones who have to talk”, refusing to make further comments.
The inauguration will take place at 10:00 am this Saturday with the presence of the Minister of the Environment, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, and the Secretary of State for Energy, João Galamba.
Solara4 has more than 660,000 installed panels and an injection power into the grid limited to 200 MVA. The plant also has 40 transformer stations and 125 inverters with an available power of 1600 kVA and is “connected to the public utility grid through the Tavira Substation, through a private 400 kV service line connecting the plant to the substation,” said the Directorate-General for Energy (DGEG) in the September release when it announced that the plant already had its operating license. A central obtained a favorable Environmental Impact Assessment.
“This type of infrastructure is essential for Portugal to achieve the goal of promoting the decarbonization of the energy sector and contribute to the renewable energy targets it expects to reach in the PNEC 2030, representing more than 1.3% of the effort with regard to the new renewable capacity of the electro-producer sector. Its exploitation will annually avoid the emission of 177 thousand tons of CO2 and will make it possible to supply electricity equivalent to the consumption of 200,000 homes”, said the DGEG in a statement on 17 September.