{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='World\u0026#39;s largest solar power plant welcomed by local residents' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bc99d8eafeecae12ddd1' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bc99d8eafeecae12ddd1' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nWorld\u0026#39;s largest solar power plant welcomed by local residents\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eAP Television Amareleja (Alentejo), Portugal, February 13th 20091. Various shots of solar plant2. Set up shot of Francisco Aleixo, director of Acciona Portugal3. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) Francisco Aleixo, Director of Acciona Portugal:\"To...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eAP Television \u003cbr/\u003eAmareleja (Alentejo), Portugal, February 13th 2009\u003cbr/\u003e1. Various shots of solar plant\u003cbr/\u003e2. Set up shot of Francisco Aleixo, director of Acciona Portugal\u003cbr/\u003e3. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) Francisco Aleixo, Director of Acciona Portugal:\u003cbr/\u003e\"To have an idea of the evolution of photo voltaic centrals, eight years ago Acciona's largest plant was of one MW (megawatt). Five years ago we built one of 10 MW and now this one of 46 MW. There are solar power plants being built like in Korea of 200 MW, in the US 550 MW. In Brazil 50 MW and more. So the evolution of these types of plants is exponential. Soon we have much larger plants, even one gigawatt.\" \u003cbr/\u003e4. Various shots of solar plant\u003cbr/\u003e5. Set up shots of Jose Antonio Dos Santos, engineer \u003cbr/\u003e6. SOUNDBITE: (Portugal) Jose Antonio Dos Santos, Engineer:\u003cbr/\u003e\"I think that Portugal should invest more in these types of plants. As you can see this is the ideal location for them. This is a clean source of energy that should be seized given that we have lots of sunlight over here. We need to make the most of this.\"\u003cbr/\u003e7. Various shots of engineer leaving plant and arriving in town\u003cbr/\u003e8. Various shots of engineer entering his house and having lunch with his family\u003cbr/\u003e9. Various shots of family watching television\u003cbr/\u003e10. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) Raquel Agulhas, Housewife:\u003cbr/\u003e\"I think that this is good for the region. Before the plant started this area was a little bit left out. I wouldn't say it was dead, but almost dead! We needed something like this to revive the region.\"\u003cbr/\u003e11. Wide shot of village centre\u003cbr/\u003e12. Set up shots of Manuel Ramalho, Mayor of Amareleja\u003cbr/\u003e13. SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese) Manuel Ramalho, mayor of Amareleja:\u003cbr/\u003e\"When the project started we had to face negative reaction from local people. Some people said that because of the solar plant temperatures would raise even higher, the plants would grow slower, or even that it would stop raining. A lot of very important issues came up. We did a lot of informative talks to persuade people that their fears were unjustified.\"\u003cbr/\u003e14. Mid shot of solar panel and village\u003cbr/\u003e15. Pan across power lines\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television\u003cbr/\u003eLisbon, February 14, 2009\u003cbr/\u003e16. Various shots of city centre\u003cbr/\u003e17. Pan across University of Lisbon\u003cbr/\u003e18. Mid shot of sign\u003cbr/\u003e19. Set up shots of Francisco Ferreira, vice president of Quercus ONG:\u003cbr/\u003e20. SOUNDBITE: (English) Francisco Ferreira, Vice President of Quercus ONG:\u003cbr/\u003e\"It is great for us to have two major solar power plants. But indeed we actually think that micro generation, which means to use solar panels in every house in Portugal, is much more important than doing this type of plant. Basically because we lose a lot of electricity from the power plant to the consumer. And if you do it at home you're not losing that energy.\"\u003cbr/\u003e21. Various shots of railway power station\u003cbr/\u003e22. Wide shot of sun\u003cbr/\u003eThe world's largest solar power plant in the village of Amareleja in central Portugal is already working at full capacity.\u003cbr/\u003eSince construction began at the beginning of 2007 the plant has changed the lives of many of the inhabitants of one of the European Union's poorest regions.\u003cbr/\u003eThe hills of central and southern Portugal boast not only Europe's largest concentration of olive trees, but also the highest levels of solar radiation.\u003cbr/\u003eAmareleja is a small whitewashed village of 2.700 people (2001 census) that stands in the heart of the Portuguese autonomic region of Alentejo, 215 kilometres (133 miles) southwest of Lisbon, not far from the Spanish border.\u003cbr/\u003eThe sun shines 220 days per year in Alentejo, a resource that lay unobserved in Portugal until the beginning of the new millennium.\u003cbr/\u003eAcciona, a Spanish world leader in renewable energies, was one of the first companies to set its eyes on the region's enormous potential for renewable energy.\u003cbr/\u003eFrancisco Aleixo is the director of Amper Solar, the Portuguese branch of Acciona that owns the plant in Amareleja.\u003cbr/\u003eAleixo says that ever since Acciona built its first solar power plant of one megawatt in 2000 the capacity to generate energy from the sun has grown so fast that the 46 megawatts of this plant will soon stop being a record. \"Five years ago we built one of ten mega and now this one of forty-six megawatts. There are centrals being built like in Korea of 200 mega, in the US 550 mega. In Brazil fifty mega and more. So the evolution of these types of plants is exponential. Soon we have much larger plants, even one gig watt,\" he says. \u003cbr/\u003eThe plant covers a total area of 250 hectares formerly occupied by a military airfield.\u003cbr/\u003eThe 2.520 Buskil trackers (ACCIONA in-house technology) - each with a surface of 142 m2, 13 meters long and 10.87 meters high - produce enough energy for 30.000 households saving 89.399 tons of CO2 emission a year to the atmosphere.\u003cbr/\u003eThe trackers follow the sun with an azimuthal rotation movement of 240 degrees, and a fixed inclination of 45 degrees.\u003cbr/\u003eThe 250 trackers contain 268,000 PV panels producing 93 gigawatts/hour per year.\u003cbr/\u003eJose Antonio Dos Santos was born in Amareleja.\u003cbr/\u003eDriven by the lack of opportunities to progress in his own country, he left ten years ago for Spain and Switzerland where he worked as an electrician leaving his wife and son behind.\u003cbr/\u003eHe applied for a job at the plant and moved back to Portugal last year.\u003cbr/\u003eJose Antonio says that the potential of Portugal for generating solar energy should be seized at its maximum so other migrants like him could move back to the country. \"This is a clean source of energy that should be seized given that we have lots of sunlight over here. We need to make the most of this,\" he says. \u003cbr/\u003eJose Antonio's wife, Raquel Agulhas was also born in Amareleja.\u003cbr/\u003eShe owns a greengrocers store and during the years of his husband's absence they would meet a couple of times per year.\u003cbr/\u003eRaquel says that the new solar plant has changed her life since she is now able to live back with her husband and even have lunch with him and their son every day. \"I think that this is good for the region,\" she says of the plant. \"Before the plant started this was a little bit left out. I wouldn't say it was dead, but almost dead! We needed something like this to revive the region,\" she says. \u003cbr/\u003eThe plant was built in record time - just less than a year - but when construction started many neighbours of Amareleja were afraid of the negative side effects that such an unknown \"monster\" would bring to the area.\u003cbr/\u003eThe town major, Manuel Ramalho explains that it wasn't easy to convince his neighbours that fears such as no more rains or higher temperatures were unjustified. \"When the project started we had to face negative reaction from local people. Some people said that because of the solar plant temperatures would raise even higher, the plants would grow slower, or even that it would stop raining. A lot of very important issues came up. We did a lot of informative talks to persuade people that their fears were unjustified,\" he says. \u003cbr/\u003eThe history of solar power generation in Portugal only started a decade ago.\u003cbr/\u003eBut since an 11 megawatt plant in the neighbouring village of Serpa was inaugurated in 2007 - for a few months it also was the world's largest solar power plant - the country's potential for renewable energies has grown at incredible speed.\u003cbr/\u003eSo fast that Portugal went from bottoming the EU's renewable energy ranking to becoming one of the continent's leading generators of \"green\" power. \u003cbr/\u003eFrancisco Ferreira is the vice president of Quercus, Portugal's leading environmental ONG.\u003cbr/\u003eHe says that despite the amazing growth of renewable energies and the outstanding results of these new technologies in the fight against global warming there is still a lot to be done in Portugal to make the most of solar power plants. \"It is great for us to have two major solar power plants. But indeed we actually think that micro generation - which means to use solar panels in every house in Portugal - is much more important than doing this type of plant. Basically because we lose a lot of electricity from the power plant to the consumer. And if you do it at home you're not losing that energy,\" he says. \u003cbr/\u003eEven though the Amareleja solar plant is already producing at full capacity it hasn't yet been officially inaugurated by the government.\u003cbr/\u003eThe country's president Jose Socrates said recently that 43 percent of Portugal's energy comes from clean sources and his hopes to reach to a 60 percent by 2020.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' aria-label='Read more description' class='rp-full-description' type='button'\u003e\n\u003ci class='fai fa-solid fa-align-left'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cspan id='read_more'\u003eRead More\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-report'\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-labelledby='resource-details-heading' class='rp-info-section'\u003e\n\u003ch2 class='title' id='resource-details-heading'\u003eResource 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