EDP will add 3 MW of power to the Rioseco hydroelectric plant in 2026

• The new Asturian plant will generate, every year, energy equivalent to the electricity consumption of two thousand households.
• The project represents an investment of €8 million, half of which will be financed through NextGenerationEU funds.

EDP has taken the final investment decision for its renewable energy project at the Rioseco dam in Sobrescobio, Spain. This involves a new hydroelectric plant with an installed capacity of 3.2 MW, representing an investment of around €8 million.

The project is among those supported by the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), under the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, within the Innovative Renewable Energy and Storage Projects programme (thermal systems and innovative renewable energies). For this initiative, €4.2 million in aid has been granted from NextGenerationEU funds.

The new “dam-foot” type plant is scheduled to come into operation in 2026 and will generate electricity annually equivalent to the consumption of approximately 2,000 households, or around 8 GWh/year.

The new renewable energy plant will be put into operation in a space where its construction was already planned when the dam was designed and built in the late 1970s. Since then, the infrastructure has included two conduits that will carry water — up to 20,000 litres per second — from the Rioseco reservoir to the two generating units of the new plant. This same reservoir also serves as the lower basin for the Tanes plant's pumping system.

Each generating unit of the “cross-flow” type will have a capacity of 1.6 MW. Furthermore, as it is 100% renewable energy, it will prevent the emission of around 1,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

As risk prevention and the safety of people and the environment are priorities for EDP, all work will be planned and executed in compliance with the highest safety standards, with continuous coordination, inspection, and monitoring to ensure there are no preventive and/or environmental impacts, strongly involving teams and partner companies. All of this will decisively contribute to the project's success.

Hydroelectric power generation has been at the heart of EDP since September 1917, when the La Malva plant in Somiedo came into operation. This facility, which continues to produce energy as it did on its first day, joins the other 10 hydroelectric plants that EDP currently operates in the region: Proaza, Tanes, Priañes, Salime, Miranda, Caño, San Isidro, Laviana, La Florida and La Barca. Together, they total 425 MW of installed capacity and produce an average of 880 GWh per year — enough energy to supply 250,000 households annually. From 2026, this new Rioseco plant will add its capacity to this portfolio.