The Portuguese government has announced it will publish its offshore wind strategy in July.
Reuters reported Environment Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho as saying the ruling Social Democratic Party is committed to developing offshore wind energy and also sees “repowering” onshore wind arrays and promoting solar projects, including small-scale ones, as a priority.
The move comes as industry insiders suggested the government may cut the capacity of the country’s first auction to below 2GW, a figure set by the previous administration.
“Some of our directions (on the policy) will be ready before (the government’s) summer break… so in July we will announce news,” Reuters reported Graca Carvalho (pictured) had told an energy summit in Lisbon.
At the moment, Portugal has just one floating wind project – Ocean Winds’ 25MW Windfloat Atlantic.
Developers including BayWa, IberBlue Wind, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, and a Galp/TotalEnergies JV have all expressed an interest in bidding in the inaugural auction.