Sonnedix Energizes Battery-Ready 36.8-MW Portugal Solar

• Sonnedix energizes a 36.8‑MW, battery‑ready solar park in Portugal—bifacial trackers, string inverters, SCADA—blending PPAs and merchant sales to unlock dusk flexibility and grid services.

Sonnedix has commissioned a 36.8‑MW solar park in Portugal, connecting it to grid with bifacial modules on single‑axis trackers, string inverters and a grid‑code‑tuned plant controller. The mid‑sized project is engineered “battery‑ready,” reserving pad space and transformer headroom to add storage to shift output into dusk and supply grid services.

The plant enters a Iberian market where Sonnedix mixes long‑dated corporate PPAs with merchant exposure. Construction emphasized standardization and string‑level SCADA to speed commissioning and optimize O&M, alongside biodiversity measures. As Portugal expands renewables, transmission and storage, a battery could turn the site into a flexibility asset for evening peaks.

How will Sonnedix monetize battery-ready design in Portugal’s evolving Iberian market?

• Energy arbitrage: charge during low-priced midday hours and discharge into evening peaks on OMIE day‑ahead and intraday markets to capture widening price spreads and negative-price avoidance.
• Premium block products: shape output to sell evening peak blocks at higher prices, improving capture price versus standalone PV.
  
• PPA value uplift: offer firmed/smoothed delivery under corporate PPAs to win higher prices or avoid shape/imbalance penalties; structure solar‑plus‑storage PPAs with peak adders.
  
• Merchant optimization: bid the battery on intraday continuous markets to monetize short‑term volatility and Iberian cross‑border spreads.
  
• Ancillary services: provide frequency and reserve products (primary/secondary/tertiary), fast ramping, voltage/VAR support, and congestion management procured by the TSO/DSO.
  
• Curtailment mitigation: store during curtailment or low/negative prices to lift realized capture price and preserve guarantees of origin value.
  
• Capacity/flexibility tenders: qualify for emerging availability/capacity mechanisms and local flexibility procurements as Portugal scales system adequacy tools.
  
• Connection synergies: leverage the existing PV grid connection and site infrastructure to add storage at lower interconnection cost and accelerate revenue start.
  
• 24/7 clean energy offerings: use storage to align hourly supply with corporate demand, commanding premiums for granular, time‑matched guarantees of origin.
  
• Tolling/hedging services: monetize through tolling agreements with retailers or traders who use the battery to hedge portfolios and reduce imbalance exposure.
  
• Portfolio balancing: use the battery to minimize imbalance costs across Sonnedix’s Iberian fleet, turning avoided penalties into incremental margin.
• Policy upside: retain optionality to tap future grants, tax incentives, or contracts for flexibility as Portugal refines its storage support framework.