The long-awaited auction of offshore wind capacity is not expected to take place until January, but Portugal is negotiating with the European Union on the use of a mechanism that will reduce the cost and financial risk of this technology.
It will be a more complex model and with more competitive parts than the auction planned by the previous Government, but the objective of the current Executive is to find a solution in which “there is a minimum impact of these projects on consumer rates and costs. for taxpayers.” ”, stated the Minister of Environment and Energy. Maria da Graça Carvalho has referred to Luxembourg as one of the European Union countries interested in financing part of the Portuguese project to install offshore wind farms, but during the closing of the APREN conference (Portuguese Association of Renewable Energy Companies ), indicated that There are others interested in investing in Portugal. This process involves a competition carried out by the European Commission.
Speaking to journalists this Tuesday on the sidelines of the conference, the Minister of the Environment explained that there are several scenarios on the table, but the simplest is that the financing of this third State is used for the infrastructure part. The undersea cables that will connect the floating offshore platforms to the power grid are the most expensive part, he said.
The studies received in the meantime confirm that the development of this technology, which is not yet mature, would have a high cost with an impact on electricity rates or would require public financing from the promoters. Which did not surprise the Minister of the Environment. Maria da Graça Carvalho pointed out that the Government is already working on alternatives to avoid abandoning a project that is of great interest to Portugal. And he also admitted that third-party financing can be used to carry out the first pilot project, which is always the most expensive. The countries that finance the project will be able to count part of the renewable production in their statistics.
Wind farms at sea. Prosecutors prefer an auction in two phases, but the process awaits a decision from the new Government
The tender for offshore wind energy exploration will advance in two phases. The first will be the award to companies of the marine areas to be explored. This process will advance once the marine resource allocation plan for this purpose has been defined, which is being finalized by the Ministry of Economy and the Sea. The second phase of the auction aims to choose the promoters who will produce electricity, within a period of one year. . calendar that is not yet defined. For this phase, the Government plans to award contracts for differences (CFD) that ensure market risk coverage for producers, but starting from a reference price for this technology below 85 euros per MW hour.
The previous Executive identified three areas for the installation of offshore wind farms off the Portuguese coast: Viana do Castelo, Figueira da Foz/Aveiro and Leixões for the allocation of 3.5 Gigawatts (GW) of power. The scenario that is now on the table in this first phase is 2.5 GW.
Source: Observadora
