Greenvolt Comunidades and cork stopper producer MASilva agreed to create energy communities in Santa Maria da Feira and Alter do Chão that will allow them to share around 1.1 GWh of solar surplus per year.
The agreement, announced this Wednesday, December 10, is based on the integration of surpluses from three MASilva photovoltaic units, already installed by the Greenvolt Group through Greenvolt Next, which add up to more than 2.1 MWp of capacity.
These surpluses — in total around 1.1 GWh annually — will be redistributed to other consumption points in the two locations.
In Santa Maria da Feira, 142 MWh from MA Silva will be shared, plus 342 MWh from another producer, while in Alter do Chão the community will receive 638 MWh per year, making a new local energy sharing network viable.
The partnership also includes special conditions for MASilva employees to access renewable energy generated in communities operated by Greenvolt across the country.
Regarding the project, José Queirós de Almeida, CEO of Greenvolt Comunidades, states that “the Energy Communities model allows companies to efficiently monetize the solar energy they produce, reducing costs, generating additional revenue and expanding the environmental and social impact of their operation”.
José Duarte Silva, CEO of the cork company, says that “the sharing of energy between our units, the surrounding community and our employees reinforces MASilva’s commitment to sustainability, efficiency and innovation”.
Greenvolt Comunidades says it currently operates more than 90 communities in Portugal, with around 35 MWp installed and 60 MWp under development, reflecting the group’s commitment to distributed generation and the valorization of solar surpluses through sharing models.