GRS will undertake its eighth project in Portugal with the construction of a photovoltaic plant in Penamacor, in the Castelo Branco region, for the German investor and asset manager KGAL. This 82 MW plant will contribute to the energy transition in Portugal by generating more than 150,000 MWh per year of clean energy for the area. The construction is an interesting challenge for the GRS team because it will be located on a sloping area and subdivided into plots, and has been designed according to the environmental guidelines to respect the biodiversity of the area. The project will be connected into the Public Service Electricity Grid (‘RESP’) through a 220 kV line with a length of over 24 kilometers.

Penamacor PV plant will have more than 124,000 large bifacial modules that will be optimized thanks to the Monoline 2V+ solar trackers manufactured by PV Hardware (PVH), a company that is also part of Gransolar Group. These trackers are specially conceived to adapt to these state-of-the-art panels and to maximize their performance.

The project, designed by Ingenia Solar Energy (ISE), will occupy an area of more than 140 hectares. It has an ambitious construction schedule, which began on January 18th 2023 with a kick-off meeting attended by local authorities, representatives of KGAL and GRS and key stakeholders involved in the project. The plant is expected to go online in 2024.The Spanish company will subsequently carry out the operation and maintenance tasks of the plant for at least two years.

«We look forward to working together in Penamacor»

«Our funds KGAL ESPF 4 and 5 are very successful with their strategy of investing in early- to mid-stage renewable energy projects,» says Michael Ebner, Managing Director of KGAL Investment Management. «A prerequisite for this success is partnering with experienced EPC contractors such as GRS. We look forward to working together in Penamacor.»

«In a year that has just begun and in which large projects await us, it is a privilege to be able to take on a challenge like Penamacor, which tests the capabilities of GRS as a reference EPC company in the world’s main markets. In this type of challenge, we have the advantage of being able to count on the support of the other companies of the group with which we are completely aligned from the beginning of the project, such as PVH and ISE», said the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of GRS, Jordi Vega.

Penamacor is the eighth project constructed by GRS in Portugal and the second large PV plant after Insua (48.5 MW), commissioned last year.

In the context of Europe’s search for energy independence, sustainability and energy savings, the Portuguese government has just approved an ambitious plan to increase solar power capacity by 2.57 GW by 2023 alone in order to reduce gas consumption.