Solar energy is the electricity source that has attracted the most investment in Portugal in recent years. The country currently has around 4.6 GW of photovoltaic capacity, but the National Energy and Climate Plan expects the country to exceed 20 GW by 2030, which will require a higher rate of installation of new plants than the current one.
Many of these projects only achieved favourable Environmental Impact Declarations (DIA) from the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) with strong conditions, forcing them to reduce the initially planned size and redesign the projects to accommodate concerns about nature conservation, biodiversity or the visual impact they would have on local communities.
Hey pass More than a dozen and a half projects were selected from among the largest projects being developed in Portugal that have already received the “green light” from the APA or have already started their environmental licensing process. This sample of 15 mega-plants alone adds up to 5,814 megawatts, or 5.8 gigawatts, more than the country’s entire current operating capacity.
Most of this capacity has yet to be built, pending the availability of the electrical grid to accommodate the new energy, in addition to the final licensing stage: obtaining building permits from municipalities.
According to the survey conducted by passwill involve investments of more than 4 billion euros and will cover more than 7,000 hectares, from Baixo Alentejo to the northeast. If these projects come to fruition, they will produce more than 10 terawatt-hours of electricity per year, equivalent to 20% of Portugal’s current annual electricity consumption.
