“The goal is to be one of the first and probably one of the biggest to make and promote a Renewable Energy Community.”

Vilamoura’s residential and tourist development has decided to create a Renewable Energy Community (CER) with 60,000 m2 of photovoltaic panels by 2035, providing electricity to 15,000 families and becoming a pioneer in applying recent legislation.

“The objective is to be one of the first and, probably, one of the greatest to create and promote a Renewable Energy Community”, said the executive director (CEO) of Vilamoura World, João Brion Sanches.

The CERs comprise a group of consumers who produce part or all of the electricity they consume through an energy production system and shared electricity grid.

The project foresees, in total and until 2035, the installation of around 60,000 m2 (square meters) of photovoltaic panels in Vilamoura, with an estimated annual production potential of 50,000 megawatt-hours (MWh), enough to supply electricity to about 15,000 homes, according to a statement.

The production of renewable energy will avoid the emission of approximately 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year, the equivalent of planting around 80,000 trees yearly.

In an initial phase, until 2024, the Vilamoura CER will allow the production of 2,000 MWh of renewable energy per year, which translates into the supply of electricity to more than 1,000 families, and an initial reduction of around 450 tons of CO2 emissions.

“Our vision for Vilamoura, as the best destination in the Algarve to live, spend holidays and invest in, also involves investing in sustainability. That’s why we decided to go ahead with this ambitious project, which will apply to all our real estate projects and extend to the already consolidated areas of Vilamoura”, said João Brion Sanches.

The concept of Renewable Energy Communities goes hand in hand with collective self-consumption. The difference between the two being the type of management and investment made.

A CER is an entity constituted under the terms of a 2022 decree-law that carries out the entire investment to create the entity, while collective self-consumption end consumers produce renewable energy for their own consumption and can share the excess produced with other consumers.

“This community is pioneering in the sense that there are very few in Portugal. All of this is very recent”, insists the Vilamoura development CEO.

Vilamoura World is responsible for promoting the residential and tourist plots within the 1,700 hectares development.

It also owns the Vilamoura Marina, the largest in Portugal, with 825 moorings for boats.

The company LuzSimples, based in São Bartolomeu de Messines, was chosen to carry out the project to create CER.