Portugal Building Largest Floating Solar Park in Europe

Portugal's power company, EDP, is building a floating solar power plant on the largest artificial lake in Western Europe. It is part of the country's plan to reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels, which have become more expensive since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Two tugboats brought an array of 12,000 solar panels, the size of four soccer fields, to its mooring on Portugal's Alqueva reservoir in July in preparation for Europe's largest floating solar park.

Portugal has accelerated its switch to renewable energy sources. Long hours of sunshine and Atlantic winds are often a blessing on the island. Despite using almost no Russian hydrocarbons, rising fuel prices are putting a burden on Portugal's gas-fired power plants.

Power generated by the floating park, which has a capacity of 5 megawatts (MW), would cost a third of that generated by a gas-fired plant, according to Miguel Patella, EDP Group Director in charge of the solar project.

Solar panels on the Alqueva reservoir, which is used to generate hydropower, would provide 7.5 GWh of electricity per year, with lithium batteries storing 2 GWh.

The solar panels will provide power to 1,500 homes, or about a third of the town of Moura and Portel's demands.

"This project is the biggest floating solar park in a hydro dam in Europe, it is a very good benchmark," Patena said.

Floating panels do not take up valuable real estate, and those on hydropower reservoirs can connect to existing power grid links, making them particularly cost-effective. Excess electricity can be used to pump water into the lake on sunny days, where it can be stored for use on cloudy days or at night.

Source: energetica