EDP and Millennium bcp join forces to develop Solar Communities | edp.com

In order to enhance the use of renewable energy in more than 130 Millennium bcp branches that lack the external area to install solar panels, EDP and Millennium bcp have signed a contract to integrate 30% of the bank's branches in energy communities that are being developed by the energy company.

The branches will be integrated in the Solar Communities that are already being developed throughout Portugal and where the producers of the energy are small and medium-sized companies that, as a central part of these communities and providing space for them, will see savings of up to 60% in the energy they consume from these projects. In this way, the branches of Millennium bcp contribute to the country's energy transition and save on their monthly electricity consumption, benefiting from the national scope of the energy communities of EDP which, as a leader in this market, seeks to promote access to the benefits of solar energy for an increasing number of families and companies.

“This is another important step taken by Millennium bcp in the energy transition process. All the energy used by the Bank’s central services already comes from renewable sources, with a large part of it generated by the photovoltaic panels installed at our Tagus Park facilities. Through this partnership with EDP, we are adding more than 130 branches that cannot have their own solar panels, reinforcing the bank’s contribution to the common goal of decarbonization,” said Miguel Maya, CEO of Millennium bcp.

These energy communities are expected to supply around 1.8 GWh of solar energy to Millennium bcp branches annually, an amount sufficient to supply almost all the consumption of the locations thar are part of this partnership during the hours of sunlight. This clean energy will make it possible to reduce emissions by more than 648 tons of CO2 each year.  

"This partnership with Millennium bcp is a significant step towards decarbonizing Portugal. With the creation of Solar Communities, we are bringing to life a new way of sharing renewable energy, in which companies and families become neighbors in the energy transition. Collaboration is essential to our collective success in building a more sustainable future, where everyone has a role and direct benefit in combating climate change," said Vera Pinto Pereira, EDP Board Member and CEO of EDP Comercial.

Developing Solar Communities in Portugal since 2020 to drive the energy transition of more and more companies and families, EDP has around 4,440 communities already contracted with customers, with the potential to add more than 150 MWp of solar capacity to Portugal and share benefits with up to 110,000 community members.

This project reinforces the existing partnership between EDP and Millennium bcp for the decarbonization of the bank. In 2017, EDP installed the first solar power plant with a total capacity of 1 MWp and more than 3,700 solar panels on the rooftops of three Millennium bcp buildings at Tagus Park, in Oeiras. In 2022, more than 1,800 panels with a capacity of 1 MWp were added to the rooftops of the remaining buildings, covering all of Millennium bcp's buildings in the Tagus Park complex. By October 2024, the panels installed by EDP had already produced around 10 GWh of electricity, enough to supply more than 600 Portuguese families with clean energy annually.

Since 2022, all the electricity that Millennium bcp uses at Tagus Park’s buildings is 100% green, in a mix of energy produced by these photovoltaic units. With these projects, EDP gives continual support to Millennium bcp in the decarbonization of its value chain, accelerating the country's energy transition and involving an increasing number of families and companies.