The solar energy demonstration platform that is being installed in Martim Longo will produce its first megawatt at the end of next July, thus starting the implementation of a project where, in the first phase, 18 million euros will be invested.
The platform, which occupies a total area of 42 hectares on land about a kilometer from that location in the municipality of Alcoutim, has as its first tenant the portuguese company magpower, which is installing solar panels on eight hectares there, using innovative concentration photovoltaic technology. Two other companies will follow, one European and one North American. In total, this first phase will allow the installation of four megawatts of power.
The platform, whose feasibility studies and technical projects are currently being 70% financed by the PO Algarve 21 under the QREN, was visited on 9 May, Europe Day, by the presidents of the Algarve Regional Coordination Commission and the Chamber Alcoutim, for being one of the good examples of the application of European funds in the Algarve region in general and in that municipality in particular.
Marc Retcher, one of those responsible for Enercoutim, the Alcoutim Solar Energy Business Association, explained in an interview with Sul Informação, that the Martim Longo platform is intended to create conditions to install a large part of the 15 experimentation licenses that the Government issued in 2009, but “none of which are still in operation. Now the platform has achieved the debut of these licenses».
Retcher also said that the equipment that is already being installed on site and those that will be implemented in the future use “concentrating solar technology, a state-of-the-art technology, very different from photovoltaics, which is more efficient and takes up less space . In the future, this is expected to be the most used technology».
The official added that «Alcoutim and Martim Longo are areas with good solar resources, where the land is of low alternative value», reasons that led Enercoutim promoters to choose this area.
Martim Longo platform will be a world showcase
Because it is a very recent technology and, to some extent, still experimental, it “has not yet been implemented in many places, so it is expected that this park will attract all kinds of people, from funders, researchers, other governments, with interest to see how it works. There are not many sites in the world with concentrated photovoltaics operating on the grid in a commercial situation, only at an experimental level,” added Rechter. In Portugal this is even the first «park of this size, with a commercial and demonstration aspect».
Luís Freitas da Silva, another of those responsible for Enercoutim, pointed out that “it was usual for each producer to have his entire system of connection to the grid. This platform concept revolutionizes this and allows the creation of a showcase for the various producers here».
“We created this platform, which is an entire infrastructured area, with fencing, connection to the network, sectioning station. This facilitates the installation of solar panel projects for our customers, which are the companies that have the licenses to produce energy. These customers benefit from the operating cost efficiencies that the platform proposes, as this cost sharing helps developers move forward. This new platform concept makes it possible to attract investment here, offering operational and financial advantages», added Marc Rechter.
Furthermore, «with this concentration of installations of different types of concentrated solar technologies, this platform will be interesting for different people to visit. Several brands and different solutions within the concentrated photovoltaic will be here. This means that people interested in investing in the sector will come here to see how it works, but also how it is maintained».
“The objective is to bring here some newer generation technologies to be tested, to create some more dynamics in the solar sector. Companies need to demonstrate that systems work and demonstrate the costs of maintaining those systems. This could also be an area for improving technologies, with the collaboration of universities, research centers and technology companies themselves. It can be a real shop window», reinforced Marc Rechter.
Expansion is on Enercoutim's horizons
«With this first phase, we want to create some critical mass here to attract more companies that can also set up here, for example, technology companies». In any case, by the end of 2015, that is, «within two to two and a half years», Enercoutim plans to have the 42 hectares of its platform completely occupied. And it's even starting to think about expansion.
But what is Enercoutim? “It is a business association that we formed for the purpose of assembling and operating the platform”, explains Marc Rechter. The specialists who would give rise to this project and Enercoutim started in 2009 with a much broader concept, that of Algarve Energy Park, which should have been installed at the Autodromo do Algarve. But, underlines Rechter, "with the crisis this project fell, it was no longer viable."
Even so, “we then moved forward with one of the components of the original project, which is the solar technology demonstration activity”. This is what is being implemented in Martim Longo.
On the day the official delegation visited the platform, the works to allow the installation of the first panels continued unstoppable. “In two or three weeks the panels will arrive to be assembled, which will be ready in June. By the end of the year, four megawatts will be installed here, with three technologies», explained Marc Rechter to Sul Informação.
The first two megawatts to be installed “are entirely designed and manufactured in Portugal. It is a Portuguese patent, Portuguese technology and manufactured here», by magpower, explained the businessman to the official entourage.
On the benefits of the 18 million euros invested in a municipality that has never before received such a volume of private investment, Rechter insisted that “this is an investment that boosts the local economy. The investment impact here is much better than doing the same thing near Lisbon».
Solar sector is opportunity for Alcoutim
Francisco Amaral, president of the Alcoutim Chamber, fully agrees. «Alcoutim has enormous potential in the solar sector, not least because it is the sub-region in Europe with the highest number of hours of sunshine».
This investment allows the creation of «dozens of jobs in Alcoutim and this is very important», stressed the mayor.
According to Marc Rechter, at the moment there are 25 to 30 people working on the platform, in a week this number will increase to 35 to 40 people and then, when the first area of panels is installed, the maintenance, security, cleaning operations will occupy 10 to 20 people.
But the hopes of Mayor Francisco Amaral do not stop there. In declarations to the Sul Informação, revealed that “at this moment, there is great interest in solar energy in Alcoutim”, with “other investors who have bought 800 hectares in Finca Rodilhas and will be able to invest 200 million euros there and create 200 jobs. It is a project with German capital, which is still at a very early stage, but which, if implemented, will be the largest plant in Europe».
All this is good news for a peripheral municipality like Alcoutim: «we are desperately fighting against desertification and solar energy is one of the areas that we can explore», concluded Francisco Amaral.
What is concentration photovoltaic?
Concentrating photovoltaic technology uses technical solutions that allow the sunlight to be concentrated through various systems (lens, mirror) in a very efficient cell that translates light into electricity. It is a much more efficient system than traditional photovoltaic.
Portugal of importer export itpain of the energy
Marc Rechter, one of those responsible for Enercoutim, recalls that, «on an international level, Portugal is always seen as very advanced in renewable energy».
He even quotes data from the first quarter of this year, which indicate that «70% of all electricity consumed in Portugal was produced by renewable energies». This means «24% less coal and crude imports, plus 4% more energy exports» .
“In four or five years, Portugal could become «an exporter of electricity, which is very positive in terms of trade balance», stresses the businessman.
Updated at 11:35 pm: the third paragraph, specifying that the feasibility studies and technical projects of the Platform are currently being financed at 70% by the PO Algarve 21 under the QREN.
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