Portugal pushes out the boat on pioneering offshore wind round
Nation's inaugural tender will offer 3.5GW of capacity and likely to attract world's top companies
Portugal has kick-started its first tender for offshore wind acreage off its Atlantic coast, with a call for expressions of interest that was published in the country's official gazette today (Tuesday).
For its inaugural auction of seabed rights, the Portuguese government has demarcated areas for up to 3.5GW of offshore wind power in the regions of Viana do Castelo, Leixoes, and Figueira da Foz.
The tender falls within the scope of wider Portuguese ambitions to auction at least 10GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, with investments targeted in the range of $30-€40bn ($32-$42bn).
The country's national climate and energy plan (PNEC), which frames commitments to European Union net zero goals for 2050, sets a domestic target of putting 2GW of offshore wind power capacity into operation by 2030.
The array of three 8.4MW wind turbines was connected to the Portuguese electricity grid in 2020 and certified to operate for 25 years.
Strong interest
Companies showing interest in Portugal's floating wind tender include Irish-Spanish consortium IberBlue Wind, Ocean Winds, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Germany's BayWa r.e.
Budding partnerships include one between Portuguese oil company Galp and France's TotalEnergies, and another between Macquarie-owned Corio Generation and local developer Hyperion Renewables.
Also in the frame is a link-up between the UK's SSE Renewables and Spain's Acciona Energia, another between BW Ideol and Elawan Energy, a Spanish unit of Japanese financial group Orix Corp, plus a pairing of European renewables outfit Greenvolt and offshore wind pioneer BlueFloat Energy.
The period for expressions of interest runs for 10 business days from today's announcement, made through the Portuguese General-Directorate for Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services.
A steeply-shelved coast and favourable winds is likely to make Portugal's offshore wind tender a key testing ground for floating wind, both from the viewpoint of technological capacity and investor appetite.
(Copyright)