Portugal

Ireland-based WElink Group and China Triumph International Engineering Co. Ltd have announced the completion of the 219 MW Solara 4 project in Portugal’s Algarve region. An inauguration ceremony for the project was held last week, and it is expected to begin full operations before the end of October.

Prosolia has confirmed to pv magazine that the project will be built in Santiago do Cacém, about 200 kilometers south of Lisbon. The plant will employ Tesla batteries.

Electricity bill payers in nations as diverse as Germany, Greece, India and China should be aware new solar projects can now generate electricity cheaper for them than legacy coal and gas-fired plants.

The investment has been planned as part of the nation’s recovery and resilience plan to access EU funds for its post-Covid economic stimulus package. The spending plans of Portugal and Greece have also been approved by the European Commission in the last 48 hours.

The trade body has highlighted a lack of explicit PV industry support in EU member states which already host domestic manufacturers, such as Germany, France, Austria, Belgium and Lithuania, and says the focus on green hydrogen could exacerbate the solar trade deficit with Asia.

An investment of around €5 million will allow an old solar panel factory in the Beja district to reopen and create more than 40 new jobs. Galp Energia’s former director of innovation is part of the new team.

A total of 6 Covid-19 positives have just been detected among workers at the Solara4 plant, located in the Portuguese Algarve. According to information obtained by pv magazine, work at the facility has been partially stopped.

A newly proposed solar project in Portugal could almost double the nation’s installed PV capacity. The installation will likely require an investment of around €1 billion.

The Portuguese utility also wants to close all its coal power plants by 2025.