The Alqueva Dam is an arch dam and the centrepiece of the Alqueva Multipurpose Project. It impounds the River Guadiana , on the border of Beja and Évora Districts in the south of Portugal. The dam takes its name from the town of Alqueva on its right bank. It creates a large reservoir with an inter-annual regulation capacity from which water may be distributed throughout the region. The dam was completed in 2002, and its reservoir reached its full level for the first time in 2010. The 518.4-megawatt (695,200 hp) power station was commissioned in two stages, stage I in 2004 and stage II in 2013. The Alqueva Dam is the largest dam and artificial lake (250 square kilometres (97 sq mi)) in Western Europe.
18-398: Alqueva may refer to: Alqueva Dam Alqueva (Portel) , a civil parish in the municipality of Portel [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
36-409: A capacity of 259-megawatt (347,000 hp). The second stage, with an additional 259 MW, was commissioned in 2013. The power station contains four 129.6-megawatt (173,800 hp) reversible Francis turbines . With these turbines, the power station is afforded a pumped-storage capability. Power is generated during high demand periods and at times of low demand, the turbines reverse and pump water from
54-602: A former quarry lake, capable of producing up to 40 MW . Salt-water resistant floating farms are also being constructed for ocean use. Floating solar panels are rising in popularity, in particular in countries where the land occupation and environmental impact legislations are hindering the rise of renewable power generation capabilities. Global installed capacity passed 1 GW in 2018 and reached 13 GW in 2022, mostly in Asia. One project developer, Baywa r.e., reported another 28 GW of planned projects. The construction process for
72-563: A much smaller reservoir below the dam back into the main reservoir. Pedrogao Dam forms the lower reservoir. Complementing the Alqueva dam, which is equipped with a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant, is the Pedrógão Dam, located 23 kilometres (14 mi) downstream from Alqueva beside the settlement of the same name and also equipped with a mini hydroelectric plant. The purpose of the Pedrógão dam
90-535: A study of the feasibility of the dam project. The potential benefits of the Alqueva dam were discussed for decades. An initial effort was undertaken after the Carnation Revolution of 1974 , but it was abandoned in 1978. The Portuguese government eventually made a firm decision to build the dam in the 1990s, during the Cavaco Silva and António Guterres governments. Aldeia da Luz , a small village that lay in
108-404: A surface area of 250 km . When filled to capacity, the shoreline of Alqueva Lake, also known as Grande Lago, is nearly 1200 kilometers and the maximum depth is about 100 meters. A well-developed commercial marina has grown-up to the southeast of the town of Amieira, which provides all types of boating services. In 2004, the first stage of the hydroelectric power station was commissioned, with
126-610: A technical capacity of over 4,000 GW if 10% of their surfaces were covered with solar panels. The costs for a floating system are about 10-20% higher than for ground-mounted systems. According to a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), this increase is primarily due to the need for anchoring systems to secure the panels on water, which contributes to making floating solar installations about 25% more expensive than those on land. American, Danish, French, Italian and Japanese nationals were
144-522: Is the creation of a lower reservoir for the Alqueva, for the recovery of flows, also serving as a source of water for the Ardila and Pedrógão water supply subsystems. The Álamos pumping station takes water from Alqueva and distributes it throughout the entire Alqueva water supply subsystem. Another two pumping stations, Pedrógão/Left Bank and Pedrógão/Right Bank, distribute water to the Ardila and Pedrógão subsystems respectively. The main infrastructure also includes
162-483: The cost of land, and there are fewer rules and regulations for structures built on bodies of water not used for recreation. Life cycle analysis indicates that foam-based FPV have some of the shortest energy payback times (1.3 years) and the lowest greenhouse gas emissions to energy ratio (11 kg CO 2 eq/MWh) in crystalline silicon solar photovoltaic technologies reported. Floating arrays can achieve higher efficiencies than PV panels on land because water cools
180-568: The dam is a waste of money, as "the government's own secret reports say only 48% of the irrigated land can be worked profitably". Floating solar Floating solar or floating photovoltaics (FPV), sometimes called floatovoltaics , are solar panels mounted on a structure that floats on a body of water, typically a reservoir or a lake such as drinking water reservoirs, quarry lakes, irrigation canals or remediation and tailing ponds. The systems can have advantages over photovoltaics (PV) on land. Water surfaces may be less expensive than
198-688: The first to register patents for floating solar. In Italy the first registered patent regarding PV modules on water goes back to February 2008. The first floating solar installation was in Aichi, Japan, in 2007, built by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology . In May 2008, the Far Niente Winery in Oakville, California, installed 994 solar PV modules with a total capacity of 175 kW onto 130 pontoons and floating them on
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#1732852333583216-497: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alqueva&oldid=1071283621 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Alqueva Dam During the 1950s, the Portuguese Prime Minister, António de Oliveira Salazar , ordered
234-453: The panels. The panels can have a special coating to prevent rust or corrosion. The market for this renewable energy technology has grown rapidly since 2016. The first 20 plants with capacities of a few dozen kWp were built between 2007 and 2013. Installed power grew from 3 GW in 2020, to 13 GW in 2022, surpassing a prediction of 10 GW by 2025. The World Bank estimated there are 6,600 large bodies of water suitable for floating solar, with
252-523: The primary and secondary networks, pumping stations, intermediate dams, reservoirs and drainage and road networks. On July 15, 2023, a 5 MW floating solar facility with 7.5 GWh production per year was unveiled, marking a significant development in Portugal's renewable energy infrastructure. The facility is positioned within the Alqueva reservoir, which is set to become one of Europe's largest floating solar parks. Spanning approximately 4 hectares, or 0.016% of
270-506: The project's main goals: The dam caused the loss of prehistoric engravings and habitat of rare and endangered species including eagles , kites , wild boars , and the Iberian lynx . A Roman fort was also submerged. The Alqueva Multi Purpose Project has a strong financial investment in impact mitigation plans. The archaeological intervention of about 1,200 cultural heritage sites is one result. An environmental leader, José Paulo Martins, said
288-409: The projected flood zone of the dam, was completely rebuilt on a new site. The construction of the new dam was carried out by a joint venture of Bento Pedroso Construções, Cubiertas y MZOV , Dragados and Somague – Sociedade de Construções. On February 8, 2002, the 96-metre (315 ft) high floodgates of the Alqueva dam were closed. In January 2010, the lake was filled to the planned level, with
306-557: The reservoir, the installation features nearly 12,000 photovoltaic panels.This installation is anticipated to supply energy to more than 30% of the inhabitants of the southern region of Portugal with the potential for expansion and the option to scale up to an additional 70 MW. The goals of the Alqueva Multi-Purpose Project have been based on the principal shortfalls of the Alentejo region. The answers to these needs make up
324-660: The winery's irrigation pond. Several small-scale floating PV farms were built over the next seven years. The first megawatt-scale plant was commissioned in July 2013 at Okegawa , Japan . In 2016, Kyocera developed what was then the world's largest, a 13.4 MW farm on the reservoir above Yamakura Dam in Chiba Prefecture using 50,000 solar panels. The Huainan plant, inaugurated in May 2017 in China, occupies more than 800 000 m on
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