Date: January 12, 2023

This hybrid wind-solar farm has just come on-stream in Europe

adding 36.5 gigawatts of annual capacity just as Europe faces an energy crisis

The Mina de Orgueirel plant lies about 186 miles northeast of Portugal's capital Lisbon

[Duarte Bello, Europe and Latam COO / EDP Renewables]

"This is the first hybrid project that we have done in the Iberian peninsula and it's the first one ever made in the Iberia Peninsula which is joining wind and solar. It has been a process that we started five years ago but this is a way of us combining two technologies, renewable technologies that allows us to leverage on the existing infrastructures on the connections that exists on the region."

Like most European countries, Portugal is accelerating its shift to renewables

to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels whose prices have surged

Benefitting from abundant sunshine and strong Atlantic winds

Portugal seeks to have 80% of its electricity usage coming from renewable sources by 2026

That's up from 60% now, which is already one of the highest ratios in Europe