Electric utility company EDP plans to invest €3 billion in Portugal by 2026, according to the strategic plan update released on Thursday, which corresponds to 12% of the total planned investment of €25 billion.
EDP’s CEO, Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, and its financial director, Rui Teixeira presented EDP’s strategic plan for 2023-2026, to investors in London.
According to the plan, investment for Portugal will amount to €3 billion, or 12% of the total of €25 billion reported to the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM).
That figure comprises the two hydrogen projects being developed at old thermoelectric power plants in Sines and Ribatejo, 2,000 electric vehicle charging points, the floating solar park at the Alqueva dam, the development of a hybrid project with 70 megawatts (MW) of floating solar, 70 MW of wind and 14 MW of solar, as well as the Windfloat Atlantic offshore wind project.
Asked about EDP’s expectations for 2023, Stilwell d’Andrade noted that the year “is off to a good start as far as hydroelectric production is concerned” after 2022 of severe drought.
“If we presume that 2023 is going to be an average year in terms of hydroelectric production, we can therefore suppose a good base for 2023,” the EDP CEO said.
The head of the electric company also highlighted the reduction in gas costs and said he expected “less negative impacts in places like Romania and Poland”.
Regarding hydroelectric production, the business plan until 2026 foresees 7.0 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, of which 5.5 GW in the Iberian Peninsula (5.1 GW in Portugal and 0.4 GW in Spain) and 2.0 GW in Brazil.
As for gas, the price of which was highly affected by the war in Ukraine, the electric company foresees a gradual reduction in consumption of 50% to 60% by 2026.
The EDP Group announced today that it plans to invest €25 billion by 2026, of which €21 billion in renewables (85%), with an annual gross investment of €6.2 billion, 30% more than the previous plan.
According to what the CEO told investors, about 50% of the investment is already secured.
(Maria João Pereira | Lusa.pt)
Source: euractiv.com
