Portugal seeks to award 10 GW in maiden offshore wind tender - report

Portugal will offer 10 GW of capacity in its debut auction for offshore wind power capacity next year, more than doubling its initial target in an effort to speed up energy transition, Environment Minister Duarte Cordeiro said on Wednesday, as cited by Reuters.

Speaking at a parliamentary meeting, Cordeiro has said that the country is pushing its plans to spur the deployment of renewables, adding that work is ongoing to prepare the technical details and the list of coastal locations.

Portugal initially planned to hold its first offshore wind tender this summer and award between 3 GW and 4 GW of projects. In June, however, the process was postponed, while the targeted capacity was raised to 6 GW-8 GW.

Portugal’s ultimate goal is to become carbon neutral by 2050. The country, which is still highly reliant on imported fossil fuels, currently sourced 59.4% of its power from renewables in January-August 2022, according to the Portuguese Association of Renewable Energy APREN.

Portugal already has one operational floating offshore wind farm – EDP Renewables’ 25-MW Windfloat Atlantic plant that went live in the summer of 2020.

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