The project advances in 2025 in Vila Real and Braga with a total investment of 350 million euros and the creation of around 700 jobs. It is the “first to combine wind and water energy”.
A Iberdrola will move forward in 2025 with the construction of a wind farm with 38 wind turbines, in the districts of Vila Real and Braga, after obtaining the production license from the General Directorate of Energy and Geology (DGEG).
The Spanish company said this week, in , that this wind farm will be “the largest” in Portugal, representing a total investment of 350 million euros and is the “first to combine wind and water energy”.
128 thousand houses
The project is formed by the Tâmega Norte and Tâmega Wind Farms — which constitute a single project called the Tâmega Wind Complex — and includes the construction of 38 “state-of-the-art” wind turbineswith a unit capacity of 7.2 megawatts (MW) and a cube height of 114 meters.
The complex will cover the area of the municipalities of Ribeira de Pena, Montalegre and Vila Pouca de Aguiar, in the district of Vila Real, and Cabeceiras de Basto, in the district of Braga.
In March 2023, the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) issued a favorable Environmental Impact Statement (DIA) conditional on the wind complex and, in response to the DIA, Iberdrola reformulated the project and reduced the number of wind turbines from 60 to 38.
The park will have an installed capacity of 274 MW and production capacity of 601 gigawatts (GWh) per year, equivalent to the consumption of 128,000 homes and will be integrated into the Tâmega Electric Production System (SET), which includes the Daivões and Alto Tâmega hydroelectric plants and the Gouvães pumped storage plant.
The company explained that the combination of wind and water energy “assumes sharing the connection point and electricity evacuation lines, requiring only an expansion of the substation, already foreseen in the initial design of the SET project”.
According to him, the incorporation of wind energy into the SET will allow “increasing the contribution of clean, competitive energy with reduced costs for the Portuguese electrical systemensuring the supply of the maximum amount of green energy, originally authorized for each project, for as long as possible”.
He added that the “reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is not only coming from the production of 100% green energy, but also from the construction of the project, which, by sharing its location with SET, significantly reduces the environmental impact by make use of existing infrastructure, roads and facilities.”
700 jobs
The company predicts that, at peak construction, the project could create around 700 jobs (in the areas of civil engineering, assembly of turbines, substations and transmission lines) and will strengthen “the country’s energy independence, representing a significant contribution to achieving the goals of the National Energy and Climate Plan”.
Iberdrola also said that it will implement continuous monitoring of ecological systems during construction, including birdlife, flora, habitats and archaeology, with a view to mitigating possible impacts, identifying new minimizing solutions and deepening knowledge of local biodiversity.
“Important step”
“We took an important step to start construction of the largest wind farm and the first hybridization project to combine wind and water energy in Portugal. This project is further evidence of Iberdrola’s commitment to promoting the energy transition in Portugal, where it already has an investment in renewable energy of more than two billion euros over the last 20 years”, he stated, quoted in the statement. , the general director of Iberdrola Renováveis Portugal, Alejandra Reyna.
The executive added that the focus on electrification, through renewable energy, and the focus on innovation show Iberdrola’s commitment “to building a sustainable, reliable and affordable future”.
