Fifty entities, including individual companies and consortia, from more than ten countries have submitted their expressions of interest to develop offshore wind projects in Portugal as the country prepares for its first auction.
The number of interested parties reflects the high interest and attractiveness that the Portuguese offshore wind market presents on the international scene, the government said.
The list includes major players such as Iberdrola, RWE, Equinor, Ocean Winds, ACCIONA, Corio Generation, Sumitomo, Marubeni, Repsol, Shandong Electric, TotalEnergies, and others.
The companies and consortia who expressed their interest in participating in the coming auction will now be invited to participate in the dialogue phase, which will take place in January 2024.
The local media outlets have reported that the initial plan of launching the first tender by the end of 2023 was hampered by the dissolution of the country’s Parliament following the resignation of the Prime Minister.
Portugal launched the initial phase of the first offshore wind auction at the end of October by issuing the call for expressions of interest.
In January this year, Portugal’s Ministry of Economy and Maritime Affairs, the Ministry of Infrastructure, and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action released draft areas for offshore wind development as part of the government’s plan to award 10 GW of capacity by 2030.
The government proposed putting the areas out to tender in phases, with three areas totalling 3.5 GW to be offered this year, through one or more competitive procedures , and for the remaining capacity to be allocated in subsequent phases until 2030, reaching 10 GW.
The three areas that the group pinpointed for the first tender(s) are located in Viana do Castelo (1 GW), Leixões (500 MW), and Figueira da Foz (2 GW) .