The opening is scheduled for 10:30 am on Friday, with a ceremony at the Alqueva dam, between the municipalities of Portel (Évora) and Moura (Beja), followed by a boat visit to the floating solar power station, according to EDP.

The floating solar plant consists of “close to 12,000 photovoltaic panels” and was moved, on May 5, onto ​​the reservoir, EDP explained to Lusa agency.

There, “it was anchored to be later connected to the grid” and to start operating this month, added the company, indicating that the plant “took about seven months to be assembled and to come into operation”.

About five years ago, EDP launched the then first floating solar project in a dam reservoir worldwide, in Alto Rabagão, in the district of Vila Real, “whose success now allows for the leverage of larger-scale projects”.

The Alqueva project is therefore “the largest floating solar park in a dam reservoir in Europe”, highlighted the Portuguese company, “a pioneer at a European level in the development of floating solar technology”.

“Floating solar technology is a decisive innovation in the use of resources and in the expansion of renewable energies, which contribute to reducing energy dependence on other sources and accelerating the decarbonization process”.

This new project in Alqueva, which involves a total investment of six million euros, “is in line with EDP’s strategy to be 100% green by 2030 and to increase investment in innovation and renewable projects”, he highlighted.

According to estimates, the floating solar plant in the Alentejo reservoir, with a power of 5MW (megawatts), should produce around 7.5GWh/year (gigawatts per hour/year).

“The expectation is that it will supply the equivalent of more than 30% of the families in the region (Portel and Moura), which corresponds to about 1,500 families (average of four people per household)”, said EDP.

The platform occupies four hectares, “equivalent to about 0.016% of the total space of the Alqueva reservoir”, he said.

The opening ceremony is expected to be attended by the Prime Minister, António Costa, the Minister for the Environment and Climate Action, Duarte Cordeiro, and the Executive Chairman of EDP, Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, among others, the company said.