A project to expand a Portuguese hydroelectric power station will increase the share of renewable energy sources used in the production of Madeira’s electricity, with much of the plant’s output replacing thermal energy. Located in the municipalities of Calheta and Ponta do Sol in Madeira – an autonomous region and one of the EU's nine Outermost Regions – the Calheta hydroelectric plant is being expanded with support from EU funding.
Madeira’s Calheta hydroelectric plant undergoes expansion
- 18 September 2019
Work under the project consists of building a power plant with a production capacity of 30 megawatts (MW) equipped with a 17.7 MW-capacity pumped-storage facility for storing excess energy during periods of low demand.
Construction of a storage dam able to hold around 1 million cubic metres of water, along with related pipelines and water channels, a pumping station and an electric substation will allow water to be pumped upstream when demand is low and generate electricity when it is high.
Tripling production capacity
The existing Calheta plant has neither pumped-storage capacity nor a dam, while its total production capacity is just 12 MW, of which 3.7 MW is obsolete and will be decommissioned once the project is completed. The expansion will thus more than triple the plant’s hydroelectric power production capacity, increasing it from 12 to 38.3 MW.
At least 25 MW of wind power generation capacity will be added, with excess wind energy generated when demand is low used to power the water pumps in the pumped-storage facility.
Energy from the plant will be fed into a network serving more than 130 000 consumers in the residential, business and public sectors, and about 800 producers of electricity from renewable sources. This network covers half of the island of Madeira’s population of more than 260 000, which corresponds to 98 % of the population of the autonomous region and 2.5 % of the population of Portugal as a whole.
Big emission reductions
The upgrades to the Calheta power plant will bring about a net increase in production of electricity from renewable sources of 79.3 gigawatt hours. Resulting reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases will amount to the equivalent of 55 000 tonnes of CO2 by 2020 and account for 13 % of the regional emission reductions needed to meet the targets established in Madeira’s sustainable energy action plan.
By managing the connection to the grid of an extended plant generating renewable energy, the project encourages diversification of energy sources and use of clean, locally available alternatives to fossil fuels. This cuts dependence on imports and the consequent vulnerability of the local economy to fluctuations in fuel prices on international markets, thereby enhancing the stability of Madeira’s power supply. It also creates regional added value through exploiting the island’s natural resources and contributes to creating a strategic water reserve.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Expansion of the Calheta Hydroelectric Plant” is EUR 85 283 294, with the EU’s Cohesion Fund contributing EUR 45 000 000 through the “Sustainability and Resource Use Efficiency” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period.