Fundão, Portugal, Sept. 26, 2024 (Lusa) - Spain's Dos Grados has inaugurated a photovoltaic plant in Fundão, in Portugal's Castelo Branco district, composed of 190,000 solar panels over some 192 hectares and representing an investment of €90 million.
According to Luis Palacios, CEO of Dos Grados, the Fundão Solar Photovoltaic Plant will generate renewable energy equivalent to the annual consumption of 61,000 homes and businesses and will prevent the annual emission of 826,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
"This is a step towards a more sustainable future," emphasised the Dos Grados CEO, who stressed that this, the company's first operating solar plant, is a clean source of energy and argued that the benefits of the project outweigh the negative impacts.
Palacios, who was speaking at Wednesday's inauguration, announced that the company is studying the possibility of extending the investment to wind energy and storage, "necessary to make intermittent production more flexible."
In the "near future," he said, bets related to electro-intensive consumption are being considered, such as electrolysis plants or data centres, "to combine intensive consumption of electricity with the renewable generation part."
Green hydrogen "could be one of the electro-intensive sustainable assets," said the CEO, adding that this is a possibility that is being evaluated and, for the time being, Dos Grados will focus on "hybridisation" in the field.
"We want to be pioneers in innovative solutions," he emphasised.
With the photovoltaic solar plant in operation, 10 jobs have been created to maintain the space.
Present at the ceremony, Portugal's secretary of state for energy, Maria João Pereira, praised a project that she said stands out "for its relevance to the energy transition, but also for the advantages it brings to the economy and local communities."
She highlighted the importance of renewable energies for decarbonising the country, noting that last year these energy sources accounted for 35% of national consumption and that the aim is to reach 51% by 2030, so there is "a long way to go" to reach that goal.
"It's great to see the will to create value in our territory," she added.
The new plant is located on private land in the parishes of Alcaria, Pêro Viseu and Valverde - all in the municipality of Fundão, whose mayor, Paulo Fernandes, emphasised the signing of two protocols aimed at "mitigating impacts."
The municipality has signed a protocol with Dos Grados that includes agricultural, forestry and pastoral activities on the land, for example with native breeds able to graze on the plant's land and the area being replanted.
A memorandum was also signed for a pilot project to create a new model of energy communities so that, within six to seven months, residents or businesses within a four-kilometre radius of the solar plant can benefit from "energy at a more sustainable price" - meaning that, in Fernandes's words, they will have a "fair share" in the plant's benefits.
In addition to Alcaria, Pêro Viseu and Valverde, also within the radius of the photovoltaic plant are Fatela and part of the Fundão Industrial Zone.
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