Portugal's Ministry of the Environment has approved 5GW grid connection permits, of which PV projects account for the majority. These licenses include 5GW of power stations integrated into the high-voltage transmission grid, and 1GW of projects integrated into the low-voltage E-grid.
Portugal's Environment Ministry has approved a new set of grid-connected solar projects in partnership with grid operators REN and E-Redes. This is the first time since June 2019 that the Portuguese government has ensured that new PV capacity is connected to the grid.
Overall, the Ministry of the Environment has granted permission for 5GW of new projects to be integrated into the high-voltage grid, and another 1GW to be integrated into the low-voltage E-grid.
These projects are primarily concentrated solar installations, many incorporating battery storage systems. The granting of permits is contingent on the developer bearing the cost of strengthening the electricity infrastructure so as to avoid negatively impacting the regulated electricity price of the national electricity system.
All selected projects are expected to be operational by 2030.
Major project developers selected include Iberdrola, EDPR, Hyperion, SolCarport, Neoen, Nenuphar Frontier and Smartenergy. Among them, Fermsolar undertook the construction of the largest project with a capacity of 480MW.