Jay
- Portugal is preparing to start up Europe’s largest floating solar park, with over 12,000 solar panels.
- Long hours of sunshine and fast Atlantic winds have helped Portugal accelerate its shift to renewables.
- Floating panels don’t require costly real estate and those on reservoirs used for hydropower are particularly cost effective as they can hook up to existing links to the power grid.
The panels on the Alqueva reservoir, which is used to generate hydropower, would produce 7.5 gigawatt/hours (GWh) of electricity a year, and would be complemented by lithium batteries to store 2 GWh.
The solar panels will supply 1,500 families with power or a third of the needs of the nearby towns of Moura and Portel.
