Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal, Oct. 15, 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's minister for the environment and energy has said that the government already has ‘all the prerequisites’ to launch the first offshore wind auction, adding that Luxembourg is ‘very interested’ in financing the project.
"We now have all the necessary conditions. We have an external investor. We have the report on how much it costs. We have the sea area report on the various zones and the mapping of the zones. Now we have to choose the first zone. By the end of the year we should start the first auction because we're aiming for two gigawatts by 2030," said Maria da Graça Carvalho, when asked about the launch of the offshore wind auction.
The minister was speaking to journalists in Ponta Delgada on the sidelines of the presentation of the investments planned in Sustainable 2030 for the Azores on Monday evening.
Maria da Graça Carvalho emphasised that the government was "waiting for a report from a working group on the economic and financial aspects" of the project, which was "delivered a few days ago".
"I've been in contact with the minister of the economy in Luxembourg, who has every intention of co-financing part of this project," she said.
The minister emphasised that the "project is very innovative", but conceded that it was an "expensive investment" to justify the presence of outside investors.
"In order for the project not to burden consumer tariffs or taxpayers, the fact that it has foreign investment will be very important. Luxembourg has every interest in accompanying and investing in this project," she emphasised.
On 21 June, the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services (DGRM) said it had no doubt that the offshore wind auction would be launched this year, once the new maritime areas had been defined and mapped out.
At the end of May, the minister for the environment and energy guaranteed that the auction, which was suspended due to the political change in the country, would go ahead, but without committing to dates and with a lower power to be allocated than the two megawatts (MW) planned by the previous government.
On 17 July, the secretary of state for fisheries said that the government intends to address fishermen's concerns about the installation of new offshore wind farms, guaranteeing that new projects will be ‘aligned with fishing’.
The Thematic Programme for Climate Action and Sustainability - Sustainable 2030 of national and thematic scope, created through the European Commission's Implementing Decision of 14.12.2022, financed by the Cohesion Fund, is a fundamental instrument for Portugal to meet the challenges of the energy and climate transition and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
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