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Lusa - Business News - Portugal: Alqueva in vests more than €4.3M in floating solar farms

Beja, Portugal: May 26, 2023 (Lusa) - The Alqueva Development and Infrastructure Company (EDIA) has launched an international public tender for the construction of five floating photovoltaic plants at an investment of over €4.3 million, it announced on Friday.
In a statement, the company said that this "is the first of a series of four tenders" to be launched before the end of the summer, with an overall investment that "will be around €60 million," which will correspond to the installation of close to 70 megawatts (MW).
In relation to the tender now launched, EDIA said that the plants would be installed at the Ferreira do Alentejo, Almeidas, Pias, Penderão and Monte Novo reservoirs, all in Beja district, with a total power of 4.5-megawatt peak (MWp).
The tender specifications include the design and construction of these five floating photovoltaic plants, located next to the pumping stations of the respective reservoirs, and their operation and maintenance for three years after the entry into operation.
According to EDIA, the plants to be installed will be "essentially" for the supply of electricity to the adjacent pumping stations, as part of the self-consumption regime as Self-Consumption Production Units (UPAC).
EDIA estimates that they may reach an annual production of 7 gigawatt-hours (GWh), a situation that leads the company to state that it will avoid the emission of 1,600 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere per year.
The company also said that it intends to replicate the success of the plant installed at the Cuba-Este reservoir, in operation since 2020.
In the statement, EDIA also stressed that the installation of these photovoltaic plants on floating structures "has important favourable arguments," one of which is that it does not compete with other types of land use, as it "typically occupies" regularisation reservoirs or parts of reservoirs that have no alternative use.
"Production is greater because the cooling effect of the water on the panels increases their efficiency of converting radiation into electricity," the document reads.
EDI also considers that this operation will contribute to the reduction of light incidence in the reservoirs, limits the growth of algae and makes a decisive contribution to water quality and to the reduction of filter cleaning costs.
"The covering of reservoirs reduces evaporation and therefore the operational costs of water distribution," they added.
HYT/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
Agency : LUSA Date : 2023-05-27 03:41:23
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