Hybrid Project With ‘Largest’ Battery In Europe

• Endesa has won the Pego fair transition contest to replace its Pego Coal Power Plant in Portugal with renewable energy
• It will now develop 365 MW solar, 264 MW wind and integrated storage of 168.6 MW hybrid project with a 500 kW electrolyzer for green hydrogen production
• Excess power that cannot be managed by storage, claimed to be the 'largest' battery in Europe, will be used to produce green hydrogen

Electricity utility Endesa has secured connection permit to replace its Pego Coal Power Plant in Portugal with 365 MW solar, 264 MW wind and integrated storage of 168.6 MW, along with a 500 kW electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen.

The storage component will be the largest battery in Europe, the company claimed after winning Pego fair transition contest for proposing socio-economic development of the region. It plans to execute the entire project, which the company's Director General of Generation Rafael González calls the renewable model of the future, through its subsidiary Endesa Generación Portugal.

The €600 million ($662 million) project will see most of the renewable energy generated injected into the Public Service Electricity Network (RESP) via 224 MVA, and surplus that cannot be managed by the storage system to be used to power a 500 kW electrolyzer.

"This innovative model -possible thanks to the advanced Portuguese legislation on hybridization and storage of electrical energy-, will allow to obtain almost 6,000 hours of production, superior to the operation of any conventional thermal plant," explained the company.

Earlier Endesa's proposal was to equip the place with 650 MW solar and 100 MW storage capacity to produce 1,500 tons green hydrogen annually (see Endesa To Replace Coal Plant In Portugal With Solar+Storage).