Hydropower, Floating Solar, and Battery Storage
Lawrence Jones is Senior Vice President of EEI International Programs.
As the world faces the challenge of reducing emissions while meeting growing energy demands, hybrid projects — projects combining multiple energy sources to create more efficient, reliable, and sustainable systems — are emerging as a powerful solution driving the clean energy transition.
EDP, a global energy company based in Lisbon, Portugal, has developed an innovative hybrid project in southern Portugal at Alqueva Park, which includes Europe's largest floating solar energy production facility in a dam reservoir.
Alqueva Park is a hybrid hydropower, floating solar, and battery storage project that consists of twelve thousand solar panels supported by twenty-five thousand floats, which can generate seven and a half gigawatt-hours of clean energy each year. That's roughly thirty percent of the annual energy usage of the region or the equivalent of around fifteen hundred households.
EDP's Alqueva Park received the 2024 International Edison Award at EEI 2024 in June. Presented annually and selected by a panel of former energy industry executives, the Edison Award is the electric power industry's highest honor.