Portuguese Secretary of Energy João Galamba has said the offshore wind energy auction that the Government has planned for 2023 “will happen as soon as possible and will be large, with a capacity minimum between 6 and 8GW”, according to local media.
The Jonal de Negocios reported that Galamba said there will be an auction “more complex than the others, which is not launched in just three months, because it involves industrialization of ports”, that is why the Government wants to “start the work as soon as possible”.
With onshore solar and wind energy technologies “already mature”, Galamba says it is now time to bet on offshore to accelerate the energy transition, the publication added.
Galamba reportedly said: “We are going to make this assessment and launch the offshore energy auction as soon as possible because, given the enormous electricity needs that we will have associated, we must also look to the sea.
“It is an alternative to accelerate.”
He added that the Government has met with Iberdrola, Orsted, the EDP/Engie and unnamed German companies to discuss offshore wind development.
“The fact that Portugal has electricity grid infrastructure along the coast, which will be reinforced in the coming years, allows for the extensive use of this technology in the future”, he said in his speech before an audience of Portuguese and German businessmen.
Galamba also reportedly announced that a pilot project will be launched in Sines, an industrial area the Minister said needed a lot of solar and a lot of wind.
In practice, he explains, he now has two years to identify the areas of the territory with hyper-simplified licensing, which cannot take more than a year, according to the Journal.
He explained: “With the APA and the ICNF, we will evaluate these areas with reduced environmental impact, where a strategic environmental assessment will be carried out.
“Projects in these areas will not have an environmental impact assessment.”