Evora, Portugal, Aug. 12, 2025 (Lusa) - The civic platform Juntos pelo Divor (Together for Divor) considered "indefensible" the plans for two photovoltaic power plants by the company Hyperion near Evora, in the Alentejo region of Portugal, whose development will cause destruction that cannot "be avoided, mitigated or compensated for".
“In our view – and we cannot stress enough that we are aware of the urgent need for energy transition and the role that renewable energy plays in this – both projects under consideration are indefensible in a region such as the district of Évora,” reads a letter from the movement Juntos Pelo Divor – Paisagem e Património (Together for Divor – Landscape and Heritage).
The letter, dated Monday and sent to the management of Hyperion Renewables Energy, the developer of the two photovoltaic projects planned for the Graça do Divor area in the region of Évora, was also released to journalists and presents the outcome of a meeting between the movement and the company held on 8 July.
In the document, Juntos Pelo Divor argues that the region of Évora is not “just any place” and that the company’s projects “do not take into account realities whose destruction cannot be avoided, mitigated or compensated by any measure that [it] proposes to implement”.
Évora is “a city classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, with a rare urban-rural balance and a landscape which, in addition to its intrinsic value, is an essential factor in the region’s identity and has strong economic value”, the platform states.
The movement also argues that this is also “an area with a rich archaeological heritage, which cannot be isolated from its surroundings” and that it has “a biodiversity that is recognised as incompatible with projects of this scale and for which the precautionary principle should be mandatory”.
“We are referring to economic activities such as agriculture, livestock farming, the exploitation of the cork oak groves as a multi-use forest, rural tourism, nature tourism, cultural tourism and wine tourism, which will be greatly damaged, if not destroyed, by these mega-parks,” criticises the movement.
Juntos pelo Divor also refers to "the way of life, investments, health and quality of life of more than 20,000 of the 50,000 people living in the district of Évora" as realities that will be negatively impacted by the projects.
“We have never found a single line in any of your documents that reveals even a minimal understanding of these realities and a consequent search for alternatives to the location of these developments,” they criticise.
Referring to the CFV project in Graça do Divor and the Sol de Évora project by Newcon40, which is also "being developed by Hyperion", to which is added the neighbouring photovoltaic plant of the company Incognitworld 3, the movement says that this is a set of solar parks with "an installed capacity of around 1,000 MWp [Megawatt-peak] and occupying an area of more than 1,800 hectares".
“The meeting with you was disappointing, it was conducted as if it were already a fait accompli”, stresses the movement, rejecting this idea and arguing that “there are alternatives” and that it is still “possible to relocate these two projects”.
Juntos pelo Divor is therefore committed to “fighting by all means” for this relocation.
On 3 July, three civic movements and an association from Alentejo published an open letter expressing their opposition to photovoltaic and wind megaprojects in the region and demanding that the government create a national and regional plan for the management of renewable energy production.
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