EDA – Electricidade dos Açores

The EDA is a vertically integrated company, which develops the activities of production and acquisition, transmission, distribution, and commercialisation of electrical energy in all the nine islands of the Azorean archipelago. This company is responsible for the global technical management of the electric system of each island, which involves the coordination of activities carried out by networks and installations, including modulation of energy production by installations connected to public networks, depending on consumption needs, system constraints, legal obligations of energy acquisition and available sources.

This organization is a limited liability company, created by the Regional Government of Azores Autonomous Region in 1981, which was awarded the concession for the transmission and distribution of electrical energy in the Azores, and the responsibility for the global technical management of the electrical system in each of the islands. Its activities are regulated, since 2003, by the National Energy Services Regulatory Authority.

EDA is also the base company of a group of companies, one of which, EDA RENOVÁVEIS, that aims to generate electricity from renewable resources such as geothermal, hydro, wind and solar.

The maximization of RES integration in all the islands of the Azorean archipelago, having into account the isolation and dimension of each electric system, requires the permanent follow-up of the technology state of the art in terms of electricity storage and the technical and economic feasibility of its development, as well as the follow-up in the evolution of new solutions of alternative clean fuels.

EDA has been involved in the project of the hybrid production system of Graciosa since its beginning (2006), which allows the integration of high levels of RES, such as wind and solar, through a battery energy storage system and an advanced energy storage system developed for the purpose. Having into account the success of this system, which is in operation since 2019, and using the acquired know-how, EDA has promoted the dimensioning and installation of two energy storage systems, supported by new energy management systems, in the islands of Terceira and São Miguel, which have entered into operation in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

EDA, as an associated partner in the project, is looking forward to keeping up with the development of this project, in order to evaluate new solutions that can contribute to the introduction of greater flexibility and security in electric production systems based on technologies that exploit clean and renewable energy.