Portugal

The solar project Central Fotovoltaica do Corvo will be built by EDA, the Portuguese archipelago’s power utility, and will be used to reduce the island of Corvo’s reliance on fossil fuels.

In an interview with pv magazine, President of the Portuguese renewable energy association Apren, António Sá da Costa, has explained why solar and renewable energy power plants selling electricity to the spot market are still unviable in the country, and has urged the government to introduce auctions.

The proposal for the new plan is included in the draft state budget law for 2018.

In anticipation of possible auctions for large-scale solar and renewables, several projects for PV plants were submitted to the country’s local and central authorities over the past months. The latest of these is a 20 MW facility planned for the municipality of Vidigueira, in Southern Portugal.

Portugal’s renewable energy association Apren said that Spain has paved the way for further development of renewables on the Iberian Peninsula with its recent 3 GW auction, and that a similar tender is needed to revive the country’s solar and wind power sector.

The Portuguese company invested $31.8 million in the transaction. The solar park is located in Ferreira do Alentejo, in southern Portugal.

Portugal added only 1.1 MW of solar PV in the first four months of 2013. The Mediterranean country is on track for EU renewables targets, but thanks to wind and hydro.

Seventy percent of Portugal’s power generation came from renewable energies, mainly hydroelectric power and wind energy, in Q1 2013, according to the country’s grid operator, Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN). Despite this record, photovoltaic energy still fails to have significant presence in the energy mix.