Iberdrola secures approval to build a 1.2 GW solar project in Portugal

The Spanish company Iberdrola has secured environmental approvals to build its 1.2 GW Fernando Pessoa solar project, which will be located in Santiago do Cacém, near Sines (south-western Portugal). The project, developed in partnership with the renewable company Prosolia Energy, is expected to be commissioned by 2025. Grid connection for the €800m project has been contracted with the Portuguese operator REN and land for the project has also been secured. Once completed, the Fernando Pessoa solar project will be able to supply electricity to 430,000 Portuguese households.

Iberdrola plans to invest €3bn in wind and solar energy in Portugal over the coming years. At the end of 2022, construction was completed on the Alcochete solar complex (46 MW) in the Setúbal district, where the company has also completed two other PV facilities: Conde (13.5 MW) and Algeruz II (27 MW). In 2023, it will start building the 37 MW Montechoro I and II projects in Paderne and the 64 MW Carregado project in Alenquer, while the 83 MW Estoi solar plant in the Algarve, which also includes battery storage, will be commissioned in 2024. All these plants are related to Portugal’s capacity auctions held in 2019 and 2020, when Iberdrola was awarded 8 solar PV projects amounting to 270 MW in total. In July 2022, Iberdrola also commissioned a 1.2 GW pumped storage hydropower project on the Tâmega river in northern Portugal, capable of producing up to 1.8 TWh/year and storing up to 40 GWh.

Portugal's installed capacity (21.4 GW at end-2021) is dominated by hydro (33%), followed by wind (26%), gas (23%) and solar (8%). Portugal's NECP 2030 (2021-2030) sets a target of 47% of RES contribution in final energy consumption (from around 30% in 2020).