The European Union (EU) will finance, with more than 200 thousand euros, a photovoltaic plant for storage at the Center for Agricultural and Technological Research (CIAT) in São Tomé and Príncipe, official sources announced, Saturday, at the launch of construction works .
The photovoltaic solar plant, developed within the framework of the Support Project for Agricultural Export Sectors (PAFAE), will consist of 120 panels with a global power of 65 kilowatts, in an area of around 500 square meters, whose completion is scheduled for within five months, according to Lusa.
The Cooperation Attaché of the European Union delegation in the archipelago, Davide Morucci, considered that “this installation will contribute to CIAT becoming sustainable from an energy, financial and environmental point of view”. For Morruci, the photovoltaic energy production system will also contribute to solving the problem of energy instability “which is responsible for damaging equipment and compromising the storage of samples for carrying out studies” at CIAT.
“It will also contribute to supplying CIAT’s current load profile with photovoltaic solar energy on a self-consumption basis to reduce the monthly cost associated with billing for electricity supply, this through the generation of decentralized renewable energy, thus reducing the consumption of electricity from the grid utility and the diesel generator set “, said the representative of the European Union. The director of CIAT, Gaspar da Graça, also assured that this plant will help reduce workers’ difficulties in the face of energy instability in the country.