EDP inaugurates Portuguese floating solar farm

• Project on Alqueva storage tank features virtually 12,000 PV panels

EDP has inaugurated a 5MW floating solar farm located on a storage tank around Alqueva in Portugal.

The project makes up almost 12,000 panels as well as will provide 7.5 gigawatt-hours a year for greater than 30% of the population in the area in the south of the country.

It covers virtually 4 hectares or regarding 0.016% of the overall area of the Alqueva tank and is incorporated with hydroelectric output from the Alqueva dam.

Construction took seven months as well as the project represents a complete financial investment of EUR6m.

Furthermore, the installment of a battery system is additionally planned, with a small power of 1MW as well as a storage capacity of around 2 megawatt-hours.

EDP president Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade claimed: "Floating solar technology, in which EDP is an international leader, is an exceptional leap ahead in the development of renewables and also in accelerating the decarbonization procedure.

" And our hybridisation approach, by integrating water, sun, wind and also storage, is clearly a rational path for growth in energy production in which EDP will remain to spend.

" Alqueva is today an example of innovation and also sustainability that we will certainly soon enhance with the new project won in the first floating solar auction in Portugal."