Portugal is paving the way for offshore wind after officially signing “rules of procedure” for a Technological Free Zone located off the coast of Viana do Castelo.
The Viana do Castelo zone covers an area of 7.63 sq km.
It corresponds to a total area of 47 sq km, bordering the Windfloat Atlantic offshore wind farm (25MW and covering an area of 11.25 sq km).
Projects developed within the zone will be exempt from paying grid access tariffs and other charges related to grid contributions, but they may be subject to a fee established by the Portuguese Energy Regulatory Authority (ERSE) to partially cover the grid operators’ investment and operation of the connection infrastructure necessary for the operation of the ZLT.
The Portuguese Electric System Law had established in 2022 three ZLT.
One of those areas is precisely located in Viana do Castelo and was assigned to renewable energy projects from oceanic source or location.
The news was announced during an international conference in Lisbon promoting offshore wind supply chain development between Portugal and Norway.
Addressing the delegation, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Maritime Affairs Lidia Bulcao said work is accelerating to approve the nation’s Offshore Renewable Energy Allocation Plan known as PAER.
Once approved, PAER is expected to serve as a “solid basis” for the development of Portugal’s offshore renewable energy sector responding to “great expectations” from the industry and market.
Recognising the critical role of renewable energy in combating climate change and enhancing energy security, the Portuguese government has set an offshore wind goal of 2GW by 2030.
With recent approval of the maritime spatial plan for the Azores subdivision, Portugal now has a complete and updated planning instrument which covers its entire maritime domain.
“The rules of procedure for the Technological Free Zone for renewable energies of ocean origin located off the coast of Viana do Castelo are set to be signed today.
“This will enable the testing of innovative solutions and the generation of knowledge critical for future commercial applications.
“All these regulatory instruments prioritised from the outset of our mandate will ensure that marine resource exploitation is both balanced and sustainable, while creating new opportunities for technological growth and innovation,” said Bulcao.
The Portuguese Government is investing under the Portuguese Recovery & Resilience Plan, including a €42m investment through the Repower Initiative supporting extensive geophysical, geotechnical, wind, wave and ocean current studies across at least 2000 sq km of the Atlantic.
Another key investment includes the €90.3m Hub Azul Portugal initiative creating networks near port areas focused on boosting bluetech and emerging areas of sustainable maritime economy, namely offshore renewables.
Norwegian Ambassador to Portugal Hanne Brusletto said: “With the update of the ambitious Portuguese decarbonization targets, we have seen a strong interest from Norwegian companies to do business here.
“In the past couple of years, our Embassy welcomed several Norwegian business delegation visits to Portugal focused on this sector, and we’ve established strong partnerships with Portuguese key stakeholders, like WavEC.
“We also had the opportunity to take key Portuguese stakeholders to Norway and share with them our experience in first-hand.”