Portugal’s EDP has reported that it plans to invest €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion) in distributed solar generation globally up to 2026.
To date, EDP reports having installed approximately 127,000 systems representing 1.6GWp of distributed solar generation in homes and businesses in 17 markets worldwide.
The new investment is planned to install an additional 4GWp in solar projects behind or in front of the meter in these markets with such distributed generation potentially approaching almost half of all new solar installations in the future.
Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, CEO of EDP, says that solar distributed generation represents a tremendous opportunity to accelerate the energy transition alongside customers.
“This business segment can efficiently provide significant energy cost savings for our clients as it entails shorter permitting and development times and faster payback as compared to the larger utility scale renewables projects, while also addressing our clients’ growing energy independence aspirations.”
Of the installations to date, 0.9GWp has been delivered through an ‘as-a-service model’, in which EDP secures 100% of the initial investment and contracts a long-term PPA with the customer.
Looking ahead in Europe, EDP anticipates its distributed solar installed capacity to grow around 5x in the period to 2026.
An example of a new initiative is to deliver a 17MWp solar project to the Portuguese pulp and paper company Navigator at its Figueira da Foz industrial complex.
Similarly around 5x growth is expected in the US, primarily through corporate partnerships, such as those recently concluded with Google for delivery of 650MWp in local energy communities in six states and with Lufthansa for a 2MWp rooftop installation in Puerto Rico.
In Asia Pacific, EDP is targeting a 3x growth in solar distributed generation by 2026, with rising decarbonisation targets and strong manufacturing presence in the region. There the company has more than 1.1GWp in pipeline and more than 150MWp secured or under construction.
In Brazil, a 6x growth is foreseen, with the focus on remote solar communities.
