The project, located in Vaqueiros in the eastern Algarve, will generate enough electric-ity to power about 200,000 homes, reduce Co2 emissions by 218,000 tonnes, and will be the largest privately-funded solar project in the country.
According to the Irish Independent, construction on the solar plant is set to start this month on an area equivalent to about 520 football pitches and will be one of the 20 largest solar plants in the world.
This news comes following reports last week that two solar plants representing investment of around €63 million are to take shape in the Algarve city of Lagos, in what has been dubbed a megaproject by Lisbon-based company Hyperion.
The solar-power ‘megaproject’ which, newspaper Correio da Manhã (CM) reports, will involve the construction of two plants, is in the pipeline for the Lagos village of Bensafrim.
Environmental impact studies are currently up for public consultation, the newspaper states, and will remain available to the public until 7 April.
In question is the installation of a photovoltaic power plant of high-concentration technology, with a sun-tracking system, and another involving traditional technology, totalling an average production of 94.4 GWh/year.
According to CM, the plant would occupy an area of around 250 hectares in Herdade da Saberosa and in terms of job creation, would only create between one and three positions.
The project belongs to national company Hyperion, spearheaded by João Talone, former administrator of EDP.
On its website, Hyperion’s mission statement explains “Hyperion firmly believes that solar energy has a strong potential as a large-scale renewable energy source and plans to further develop solar-power plants worldwide in places that combine the required endogenous conditions and provide appropriate regulation.”
Left Bloc MPs João Vasconcelos and Jorge Costa have voiced concerns that the project could however incur costs for consumers and therefore wrote to the Government seeking clarifications on the matter.
The MPs stressed that, “considering the potency of the plant to be installed in Lagos, and the deadlines and levels of subsidies usually attributed in projects of this type until the current Government came into force, we may face an additional cost to consumers in the region of 100 million euros over 20 years.”
Meanwhile, as CM previously reported, a Chinese and Irish group is to invest €200 million in Alcoutim to build Europe’s largest solar power plant, but in this case, without subsidised tariffs.