O “BINÓMIO” CARVÃO-ELETRICIDADE. UM CASO EXEMPLAR: A CENTRAL LENA EM PORTO DE MÓS (PORTUGAL)

Abstract

Overcoming of the economic crisis in Portugal after World War I had to be based on increased farming and industrial production, largely dependent on the overall electrification of the country, which had to be encouraged and supported. It is in this context that in 1927 the concessionaire of Couto Mineiro do Lena, embarked on an ambitious expansion programme based on the production of electricity obtained by burning, at the mouth of the mine, the coal from the mines of Batalha. The thermal power station began operating in 1933 supplying the mines and other facilities belonging to the Company, providing power to the public lighting in Batalha and Porto de Mos, and supplying the cement factory of Maceira. However, serious economic difficulties resulting from the company’s indebtedness cleared the way for a growing influence in the area of the producers and distributers of hydro-electric power, who acquired the power plant in 1948, with the agreement of the Government; a strategy that led to the closure of the mines of Lena.