(Sines / Portugal) – The region around Sines on the west coast of Portugal is increasingly becoming a center for renewable energy in the country. The Spanish energy supplier Iberdrola SA has now received the building permit for the “Fernando Pessoa” photovoltaic power plant with an installed capacity of 1,2 gigawatts in Santiago do Cacém, near the port city with a population of over 13.000. This will set “new standards”, the company announced.
The power plant, named after the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, is scheduled to go into operation in 2025. The grid connection has already been contractually agreed with the Portuguese operator REN and the plant will avoid the consumption of 370 million cubic meters of gas per year. The properties have also already been secured. The construction of the facility would create up to 2.500 jobs, most of them locally, explained Iberdrola.
“Approval in record time”
“The cooperation with the Portuguese authorities made a significant contribution to completing this project in record time,” said Iberdrola's CEO Ignacio Galán, but did not provide any details.
The Vice President of the EU Commission responsible for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans (left) and Iberdrola boss Ingnacio Galán. © Iberdrola SA
According to the information, Portugal had recently pushed forward its efforts to implement the European Green Deal and the EU's REPower package and simplified national administrative procedures. Iberdrola plans to invest another three billion euros in wind and solar energy in Portugal in the coming years. At the end of 2022, the construction of the Alcochete solar complex (46 megawatts) was completed in the Setúbal district (Lisbon region), where the company also completed two other photovoltaic plants: Conde (13,5 MW) and Algeruz II (27 MW).
At the beginning of 2023, construction will begin on the 37 MW Montechoro I and II projects in Paderne (Albufeira) and the 64 MW Carregado project in Alenquer (Lisbon), while the Estoi solar power plant (83 MW) in the Algarve will also begin Battery storage includes, will go into operation in 2024.
“Big player” on the Iberian Peninsula
In addition, Ignacio Galán announced last June that his company would invest three billion euros Hydrogen projects want to invest. The company is already one of the “big players” in hydrogen production on the Iberian Peninsula.
A plant for the production of green hydrogen with an output of 20 megawatts was inaugurated in Puertollano (Ciudad Real), Spain. In the future, 3.000 tons of the energy source are to be produced there every year. A newly built photovoltaic power plant with an installed capacity of 100 megawatts serves as the power source.
Sines will become a hub for renewable energies and hydrogen
It was only in December that the Irish-based technology company Fusion Fuel Green plc received grants totaling 36 million euros from the government for its “Sines Green Hydrogen Valley Alliance”. A large part of this goes into the “H2 Hevo Sines” project, which consists of 3.000 off-grid electrolyzers called “Hevo Solar” with a total output of 75 megawatts, the company announced.
In July an announced consortium from four companies to set up a supply chain for liquid hydrogen from Portugal to the Netherlands. Accordingly, the energy source is to be produced from renewable energy using electrolysis in the industrial area of the deep-water port of Sines. It is then liquefied and shipped for further distribution to the port of Rotterdam, around 1.200 nautical miles (2.220 kilometers) away. The aim is to have the route operational by 2027.
As part of its national hydrogen strategy (Estratégia Nacional para o Hidrogénio, EN-H2020), published in 2, Portugal has allocated a budget of 40 billion euros and in particular the area around the city of Sines for a number of projects selected that aim to produce, store and transport green hydrogen on an industrial scale. The commissioning of a solar-powered hydrogen plant near the port was planned at the time for 2023. The goal is a production output of one gigawatt by 2030.
Photo above
Iberdrola's “Nunez de Balboa” photovoltaic power plant with an installed capacity of 500 megawatts in Spain. © Iberdrola SA
