Etermar, a maritime engineering and structural fabrication company for the energy sector, signed the contract with Energetus, Instalações Industriais, which specialises in developing and installing energy projects, to construct these modules.

In a joint statement sent to the Lusa news agency, the companies revealed that the 14 modules for the expansion of the SIN01 building, the first phase of the Sines 4.0 Data Centre mega-project in the district of Setúbal, will operate using renewable fuels and are scheduled for completion by mid-next year.

They explained that the equipment will run on Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), providing “a low-emission backup power solution.”

The installation of these modules at the data centre, led by Start Campus, “will help increase the capacity” of this infrastructure “to 33MW [megawatts], making it the largest in operation in Portugal”, with full operational status expected upon project completion next year.

In the statement, Etermar Energia emphasised that this partnership will enable the company to expand its “range of operations” in the energy sector, given the “high degree of technical specialisation” required by the project.

According to the company, installing the 14 emergency power modules will require “complex electrical and mechanical integration and assembly”.

“The execution of the project will benefit from the location of Etermar’s industrial facilities, whose proximity, as well as good road and sea links, to the Sines campus optimises logistics and workflow,” it added.

For the executive director of Etermar Energia, Luís Machado, quoted in the press release, “this contract is a fundamental milestone” for the company.

This is “an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the quality of our engineering, as well as our ability to deliver in a context that offers such transformative potential for the country”, he emphasised.

For his part, Bruno Lourenço, commercial director of Energetus, also quoted in the same document, underlined the importance of this partnership in a “demanding project”.

Start Campus is building and operating the SINES DC project, a 1.2 GW (gigawatt) data centre campus in Portugal.