Lisbon, May 5, 2026 (Lusa) - A technical assessment of proposed renewable energy acceleration zones has identified around 7% of mainland Portugal as having the potential to accelerate solar and wind projects, but warns that implementation depends on the grid, licencing, the market and public acceptance.
These findings are included in the Strategic Environmental Assessment and the proposed Sector Programme for Renewable Energy Acceleration Zones (ZAER), a technical report which will be made available for public consultation regarding the final demarcation of the areas.
Maria do Rosário Partidário, from the Lisbon Instituto Superior Técnico coordinated the team responsible for the assessment, which included specialists in energy, ecology, landscape, spatial planning and regional economics, amongst other fields.
The proposal aims to define a strategy for solar and wind renewable energy acceleration zones, where renewable energy projects may be licenced without an environmental impact assessment, as long as they do not cause significant environmental impacts.
The "green map", as the environment and energy minister dubbed it, identifies potential sites for solar, photovoltaic and wind power after applying environmental, territorial and heritage exclusion criteria.
During the presentation, she said that the maps identify around 7% of the mainland as having potential, but that the area required to meet the targets of the 2030 National Energy and Climate Plan (PNEC 2030) is considerably smaller, at around 1% of the territory.
According to her, around 18,000 hectares would be needed for solar energy, in the most demanding scenario, and around 70,000 hectares for wind energy.
The same document emphasised that “acceleration is not limited by a lack of resources”, but rather by the market and access to the electricity grid, pointing to grid connection as a main obstacle.
The assistant Secretary of State for Energy, Jean Barroca, described the conclusions presented as not definitive, saying that the sector programme will only be approved following official feedback and public consultation, highlighting the digitisation of processes and the future one-stop service for renewable energy licencing.
The proposed strategy prioritises artificial and built surfaces, such as building roofs and façades, transport infrastructure and surrounding areas, car parks, industrial estates, abandoned mines and urban wastewater treatment plants.
Among the criteria considered are also the exclusion of areas of high environmental sensitivity, the complementarity between decentralised and centralised production, the prioritisation of solar projects within 10 kilometres of the electricity grid, and the use of existing projects or areas with a combined application of different renewable technologies.
The assessment identifies several critical trends that must be addressed, including the bureaucracy and unpredictability of licencing procedures, insufficient technical and human resource capacity within the public administration, the power grid’s lack of capacity for new connections, and growing social and local opposition to the implementation of renewable energy projects.
Among the opportunities associated with the programme, the document highlighted the creation of mechanisms to centralise decision-making and advisory services within a one-stop service, the installation of facilities in built-up, industrial or degraded areas, the prioritisation of hybridisation and the retrofitting of existing facilities, and the development of self-consumption and energy communities.
The document concluded that the environmental and territorial effects of acceleration zones depend on how renewable energy production is organised, the areas it occupies, the distribution of costs and benefits, and coordination with local economies and communities.
According to the non-technical summary, solutions tend to be more favourable when they bring production and consumption together, limit the concentration of impacts on the landscape and biodiversity, reduce pressure on new land uses, and reconcile energy, economic activity and community well-being.
The assessment also said that potential negative environmental effects could be avoided if developers were environmentally and socially responsible and designed projects with environmental constraints and community benefits in mind.
SCR/MYAL // AYLS
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