Ireland-based renewable energy firm WElink Energy has started construction on its flagship 221MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Southern Portugal.
Named as Solara4, the solar power plant being developed with an investment of £200m is located in Vaqueiros, in the region of Algarve.
Planned to comprise 850,000 solar modules, Solara4 is likely to create an average of 300 jobs during the construction stage. The project is slated to be connected to the grid by mid-2019.
After completion of the construction, Solara4 is claimed to find a place among the largest unsubsidized solar PV plants in Europe. It will capable of producing enough power to cover 150,000 homes annually.
WElink Group CEO Barry O’Neill said: “WElink Energy is leading the way in European solar generation.
“We are delighted to be in a position to commence construction on our flagship Solara4 project, demonstrating that industrial scale clean-energy can be profitable without government subsidies and is a mature technology.”
Construction at the new Portuguese solar plant comes after the signing of an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract with China Triumph International Engineering (CTIEC) earlier in the year.
WElink Energy Iberia development head Eduardo Aguilar said: “The construction of Solara4 is the result of many months of great team work to deliver this internationally significant unsubsidised project in Portugal.
“Solara4 is a beacon of WElink Energy’s portfolio and is part of a long-term strategy of development in Iberia.”
WElink owes its transition to unsubsidized solar projects to increasing competitiveness of solar energy generation. It also attributes CTIEC’s and its own ability to streamline the cost of delivery across the value chain for the transition.
The company has also revealed that the project’s location in Southern Portugal makes it suitable for developing subsidy-free solar PV due to the high solar irradiation levels in the region.
Image: CTIEC chaiman Peng and Portugal Minister of Economy Manuel Caldeira Cabral at the signing of the EPC deal earlier this year. Photo: courtesy of WElink Group.