The minister claims that the new Portuguese government has committed to the development of ET EnergyWorld’s offshore wind energy industry

LISBON: Portugal’s new government is committed to the development of offshore wind energy and also prioritizes the “repower” of onshore wind farms and the promotion of photovoltaic projects, including small ones, the environment minister said on Monday.

Maria da Graca Carvalho said the government will announce some details of its offshore wind policy in July, while investors will await guidance on planned key licensing activities announced last year under the previous administration.

The previous administration set the capacity offered in the nation’s first offshore wind auction at 2 gigawatts (GW). The new government has not said whether it will continue to offer this capacity and it is not known when the auction will take place.

“Some of our (policy) guidelines will be ready before the (government’s) summer break… so we will announce new things in July,” Graca Carvalho said at an energy summit in Lisbon.

Portugal already has a small 25 MW floating wind project off the Atlantic coast, owned by Ocean Winds, a joint venture between major Portuguese utility EDP and French company Engie.

Many other utilities have expressed potential interest in the auction, including Germany’s BayWa, Irish-Spanish consortium IberBlue Wind, fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and a joint venture between Portugal’s Galp and France’s TotalEnergys.

Floating wind farms are expected to be installed in deep waters where winds are stronger and more continuous, enabling them to produce more power than those attached to the seabed close to shore or those on land.

Posted on May 27, 2024 at 4:50 pm EST

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