PORTUGAL – Europe’s largest floating solar farm is ready to generate 7.5 gigawatt-hours annually starting in July, according to Reuters.
The solar farm is built by Portugal’s main utility Energias de Portugal (EDP), on Western Europe’s biggest artificial lake, the Alqueva reservoir. A vast array of 12,000 solar panels, the size of four soccer fields, is moved by two tugboats to their mooring. The solar panels will also be paired with lithium batteries that can store 2 GWh. It will be able to power around 1,500 households.
Portugal plans to cut reliance on imported fossil fuels as the prices surge since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The country currently relies on Russia for about 10 percent of its natural gas, and this new floating solar farm will reduce that dependency.
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