Valencia sets up solar option

The Board of Directors of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV) has confirmed approval of a second, large, project that will see a total of 11 per cent of the port’s electrical power generated from the installation of photovoltaic plant on the roof of the Valencia Terminal Europa vehicle storage unit, located at the east dock of the port.

This solar facility will see a surface area of 27,700m2 constructed on the roof of the terminal, which is operated by the Grimaldi Group. Although no timescales have been released for the project, a tender is due for release “in the near future” and will come with a budget of €17 million.

The infrastructure is equivalent to the size of four football fields and will comprise 10,773 photovoltaic modules installed on a metal-framed structure, inclined at four degrees, and facing in a southerly direction. There will be four transformers, with two units of 1250 kilovoltamperes (kVA) each and another two of 1,600 kVA, thereby generating around 8,380 MWh/ year, which equals approximately 11 per cent of the port’s total electrical energy consumption.

The remaining three per cent of electrical power will be generated from the first project of this nature in Valencia, which involves development of a photovoltaic energy plant at the Príncipe Felipe dock area. Here the solar energy panels are occupying a surface area of 6420m2 and will generate 2353 MWh/year. This component has a budget of just over €3 million.

Aurelio Martínez, President, PAV, highlights “Valenciaport’s commitment to the fight against climate change with specific projects underway to become an emission neutral port by 2030 and contribute to the environmental sustainability of our surroundings. Making sustainability and growth compatible is an essential objective in our present and future strategy”.

Both projects are being financed by the Next Generation funds of the European Union and the Spanish Government’s Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan.