The new large-scale plant Pessegueiro is located in Pinhal Novo, Palmela (Portugal) close to Lisbon and will produce around 126,500 MWh of renewable electrical energy per year, which is enough to cover the annual power supply of a city with 26,000 homes.
On March 29th, a symbolic opening ceremony of the Pessegueiro Photovoltaic Power Plant (63,5 MWp) was carried out at the parish of Pinhal Novo, Municipality of Palmela. The ceremony was attended by Portugal’s Minister of Environment and Climate Action, Duarte Cordeiro, the Secretary of State of Energy and Climate, Ana Fontoura Gouveia, the Ambassador of Switzerland to Portugal, Markus Alexander Antonietti and the Mayor of Palmela, Álvaro Manuel Balseiro Amaro, among several other relevant entities of the sector.
This solar PV plant, delivered by Smartenergy to EKZ, was connected to the grid in December 2022. With an annual output capacity of 126,367 MWh, the energy produced by the Pessegueiro power plant is sufficient to supply electricity to 26,191 homes according to the country’s average domestic consumption statistics. At the same time, this state-of-the-art PV plant will prevent the annual emissions of 34,749 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. This is one of the largest solar installations built in Portugal that will support the bold decarbonization goals of the country.
The plant will be operated and maintained by Smartenergy Asset Management and the produced electricity was already secured through a power purchase agreement by the trading arm of Smartenergy, who will sell the electricity on the market.
The potential for solar PV plants on the Iberian Peninsula is huge and the Smartenergy approach of a one-stop shop through the whole lifecycle of projects has once again proven to be a win-win situation for all involved parties.