Lightsource bp acknowledged that the Beira solar plant does not have the financial viability conditions to proceed. The environmental assessment process identified several changes to consider in any eventual reformulation of the project, and after analyzing the implications of those changes on the configuration, the company determined that the necessary conditions were not in place to proceed.
The cancellation decision was made recently, and the company attributes the lack of conditions to advance to a joint analysis of the changes that would need to be introduced. Therefore, there are no plans to present a reformulated solution for the Beira Project under the current Environmental Impact Assessment procedure, nor will the project in its previously presented form continue at that location.
The project was developed in the municipalities of Castelo Branco and Idanha-a-Nova and represented an estimated investment of approximately 242 million euros. Until the date of cancellation, the investment made corresponded essentially to development work, technical and environmental studies, engineering, and licensing, and Lightsource does not disclose the specific amount invested.
With the abandonment of the Beira project, Lightsource bp has five projects under development in Portugal. The largest is Sophia, with more than 500 MWp, which is at a less mature stage, while the Alqueva, Chamusca, Paiva, and Planalto projects, with capacities between 130 and 341 MWp, have already obtained Environmental Impact Declarations and are in the financial structuring phase.
