Algar, the company that collects solid waste in the Algarve, plans to make use of the wind in Barranco do Velho to generate power. The measure is being analysed as part of an agreement between ALGAR and the Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management, which provides for the installation of a monitoring station to assess the power generating capacity which could be set up at the land fill site.

Hélio Barros, CEO of ALGAR, is confident that the operation will be a success; he said that they were going to build a tower at the edge of the landfill site in the eastern Algarve by the end of the month. He told the Algarve Observer that it was not enough for there to be wind, it had to be steady and said that everyone believed that the site had potential for power generation.

Depending on the measurements and the assessment of the economic viability of the project, it will be decided what capacity to install on the wind towers, which could also be installed on other Algarve sites.

In the Sotavento (eastern Algarve), wind power could serve to complement the other source of power currently being developed, based on the hydrogen battery technology, an innovation in Portugal.

The agreement with INEGI, which has been responsible for the studies assessing the potential of wind power for the generation of electricity in most of the wind parks in the country, comes as a result of the Algarve solid waste treatment company focusing on the production of alternative energy, based on renewable sources.

In the Barlavento, for example, Algar already supplies power to EDP, through a system of generators which operate on biogas, which comes from the decomposition of organic waste collected at the Porto de Lagos landfill site.

source: algarve observer