Germans invest €28 million in solar project

A group of German investors who purchased a deactivated Alentejo mine in São Domingos, in the district of Mértola, now have a project to build solar, eolic and green hydrogen facilities.

La Sabina Green Energies owns the two thousand hectares of land where copper and sulphur were once mined for the production of sulphuric acid, as well as other secondary products including lead, nickel, cobalt, gold, silver, cadmium, antimony arsenic and tin.

The project is an ambitious one and will involve a total cost of €500 million, although the developers say that the investment will be made over the long term and in “several phases”.

In the short term, the project, which will also involve storage, will start off with 100 MW solar park project while the developers say they have no interest in mining.

“We are three German investors. We bought the shares of the company La Sabina Mineira Turística last year. I had ties because my father invested in this company 30 years ago,” one of the investors, Hubertus Prinz zu Hohenlohe Langenburg told Jornal Económico, who did not disclose the values of the operation.

“Our approach is to produce renewable energy, because the location is perfect for producing electricity from solar PV or wind, and also for producing green hydrogen for the Portuguese market.”

“We also want to re-cultivate land that had been used before as a mine, although some parts are still contaminated and need to be treated. We have a long-term ecological project involving several stages. We will start on a small scale and try to grow to achieve our goals,” addd the Munich-based German lawyer, who specialises in energy and has invested in the sector.