Portugal’s Secretary of Energy João Galamba says the country’s government has increased its target for offshore wind capacity and hopes to launch its first auction next year
Speaking at the Hannover Messe event in Germany earlier this week, Mr Galamba said the government plans to hold initial auctions for offshore wind in 2023. He said the auctions would target a minimum capacity of 6 GW to 8 GW, although he did not provide an overall timeframe for auctions for this amount of capacity. His remarks were reported by the business newspaper Jornal de Negócios.
Earlier this year, hopes were raised that an auction for commercial-scale offshore wind would take place by the end of 2022. Portugal’s Minister of Environment and Energy Transition Minister Joao Matos Fernandes said the government hoped to use auctions to secure 3-4 GW of floating wind capacity by 2026.
As highlighted at the time by OWJ, Portugal does not have commercial-scale offshore wind of any sort, but does have a small-scale floating wind project, WindFloat Atlantic, which became fully operational in July 2020. The windfarm has an installed capacity of 25 MW. It is installed off the coast of Viana do Castelo in Portugal in a water depth of 100 m.
In a speech at Hannover Messe reported by the newspaper, Mr Galamba said auctions for floating offshore wind are “more complex than the other auctions” such as for onshore wind and solar power and could not be implemented as quickly. He said the process would involve ‘industrialization of ports.’
“We are going to make an assessment and launch an offshore energy auction as soon as possible because of the enormous electricity needs that we will have,” he said in the speech.
The Minister also highlighted the fact that a growing number of developers – among them Iberdrola, /Engie and Ørsted – have expressed an interest in developing floating windfarms in Portuguese waters.
As reported by OWJ, floating wind developer Simply Blue has also expressed an interest in the Portuguese market, as has energy major Shell, working with Capital Energy. In 2021, SSE Renewables and Acciona signed an agreement for a 50/50 joint venture to enter the Spanish and Portuguese offshore wind markets.
The Minister also noted that “Portugal has electricity grid infrastructure along the coast, which will be reinforced in the coming years,” which will “allow for extensive use of this technology in future.”
As recently highlighted by OWJ, the spine of Portugal’s electricity network, a 400 kV line, runs from north to south along the coast with smaller distribution lines running from it. The WindFloat Atlantic project in the north is connected to the onshore substation in Viana di Castelo. Projects in the north could also connect to a substation in Porto or the high-voltage substation in Lavos. Projects in the Lisbon areas would have access via substations in the city.
In a recent report on the potential for offshore wind in Portugal, leading analyst Aegir Insights said, “Portugal needs floating wind technology, but because it is more expensive than fixed-bottom offshore wind it will need government commitment and support to be bankable and reach commercial scale.”
Aegir Insights also noted that for the time being, there is no framework specifically for offshore wind and unless things change, it is unlikely that Portugal will build offshore windfarms before 2030.
“However, if the government acts,” it said, “there is a real economic opportunity for Portugal to establish a floating wind supply hub in the Iberian peninsula… and expand the country’s existing wind manufacturing industry and take advantage of large ports and shipyards in the area.”
