Azores Situation Report Wednesday 4th October 2023
Graciosa is an “example island for the use of renewables”.
The president of the Regional Government of the Azores (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM) considered that Graciosa Island is an example in terms of the use of renewable energy, a situation that also places the archipelago as an “example of the energy transition”.
José Manuel Bolieiro, within the scope of the statutory visit to the island of Graciosa, visited the ‘Graciolica’ project today, a hybrid energy system that integrates a wind farm, a photovoltaic plant and a battery plant and, due to its energy production capacity, admitted that it is of “an example of the energy transition” that is being carried out in the Azores.
He mentioned that the island already has a “magnificent” track record in the combined solution of wind and photovoltaic energy and noted that “there are already long periods, magnificent periods, of 100% renewable [energy] use for distribution on the grid”.
“What turns Graciosa into an island that is an example of the use of renewables, decarbonization of our economy, reduction of carbon emissions and, why not say so, also placing the Azores as leaders in the example of energy transition”, he stated.
The head of the Azorean executive highlighted the fact that the executive he leads is trying to ensure that the electrical transition is carried out in production and also in consumption habits, with the transition in electrical consumption, to reduce thermal solutions for daily use in homes, vehicles and industry.
Graciolica’s hybrid energy production system began producing electricity and supplying it to Graciosa Island on August 21, 2019.
During the visit of the president of the Government of the Azores, the operational director of Graciolica, Duarte Silva, informed that the island of Graciosa has, on average, 143 days per year in which the electrical supply is made by renewable energy and, on average, “every three calendar years there is a year” in which the energy consumed is “100% renewable”.
“These numbers, I think make this project unique in the world. Because, in fact, the renewable percentage of 60%, there may eventually be islands that already accompany us, but having a third of the year 100% renewable is a differentiating aspect that we have not yet found in other places”, he declared.
Since the project began operating, 8.9 million liters of diesel have been saved at the Eletricidade dos Açores (EDA) hydroelectric plant and, between July 18, 2019 and August 31, 2023, 8.2 million litres of diesel were saved. millions of euros.
The Graciolica project was supported by the Government of the Azores with 4.5 million euros as non-refundable funds and 2.9 million as refundable funds.
The Government of the Azores ends today a two-day statutory visit to Graciosa Island.
According to the Statute of the Azores, the Regional Government must visit each of the islands in the archipelago at least once a year, with the obligation to meet the Government Council on the island visited.
Dog collected for alleged mistreatment in Ponta Delgada
An American Pit Bull Terrier dog was collected in Ponta Delgada, in the Azores, on suspicion of “mistreatment and lack of living conditions”, the PSP announced today.
According to the PSP Regional Command, the situation occurred on September 29th in the parish of Fajã de Cima, “with the suspicion that a dog showed clear signs of malnutrition and lack of living conditions”.
The police determined that there was “material of a criminal nature”, having raised “a report for the commission of the crime of mistreatment of pet animals, as well as material of an administrative nature” related to the registration, insurance, vaccination and housing conditions of the animal, reads a statement from the PSP.
Thus, considering “safeguarding the well-being of the canine”, the Police Inspection Brigade, in collaboration with the Municipal Kennel of Ponta Delgada, collected the animal, which is currently “in complete safety and with dignified and adequate nutritional conditions, hygiene and habitability”, adds the PSP.
Altice Portugal and Thothx reactivate teleport on the Azorean Island of São Miguel
Altice Portugal and ThothX will reactivate a teleport on the island of São Miguel with deep space radar capabilities, the two companies announced today in a joint statement.
According to the companies, the space sector is “considered to have great potential for the future, particularly in the areas of security and space communications, central to this project, which includes the remodelling of a 30-meter telecommunications antenna, located on the island of São Miguel”.
The rehabilitation of the teleport and the conversion of the antenna “will contribute to the observation of space traffic in geostationary orbits and to the safety of European space assets”, says the statement.
“This agreement reinforces, on the one hand, the position of Portugal as a strategic European telecommunications’ ‘hub’ and the Azores archipelago as an Atlantic ‘hub’ for Space and, on the other, Altice’s strategy as a ‘player’ in the communications map and gateway to Europe, connecting continents by space, air, land or submarine”, he adds.
For ThothX, a world leader in the data transmission sector, this project is part of a “global coverage strategy with a 46-meter antenna operational in Canada, the remodelling project for a 30-meter antenna in Australia and the remodelling of the Azores to achieve 95% coverage of geostationary orbits”.
According to the press release, “several Portuguese R&D (research and development) institutions have already signalled interest in a potential future collaboration in radio astronomy studies, an aspect of great importance for the company, whose collaborations with the Canadian academy have been going on for some years”.