Sustainable investor Exus Management Partners has been chosen to provide the complete end-to-end delivery of an 85MW wind-solar hybrid project in northern Portugal.
Exus will deliver the project on behalf of a third-party investor, including the identification of the project’s location, permitting, plant design, engineer, procurement and construction negotiation, construction management, commissioning, asset management and power offtake contracting.
The company said it was chosen without a competitive bidding process since no developers were offering a comparable service package.
The hybrid plant is set to be fully operational by the end of 2023.
By developing a solar PV project alongside an operational wind farm, hybrid projects can enable owners to take advantage of pre-existing infrastructure and more consistently generate power compared to standalone solar or wind projects.
Exus said an increasing number of European countries, including Spain and Portugal, have “thrown their support” behind hybrid solutions as they seek to add extra green capacity to their respective grids and improve reliability of production.
Exus’ technology-agnostic tools will provide the project’s owners with full oversight of the performance of both the solar and wind elements.
Exus co-founder Carlos Tello Garcia said: “Hybrid solar and wind projects represent a significant opportunity to optimise the grid.
“We expect to see a boom in development across Europe once supporting regulations are put in place.
“This scheme represents the next step in Portuguese renewable energy development, and we are proud to be at the forefront of innovation in the sector.”