Portugal

Introduction

In 2025, the installed wind power capacity in Portugal increased by just 5 MW, representing the second-lowest annual growth since 2001. The Offshore Renewable Energy Allocation Plan (PAER), approved in 2025, represents a key milestone supporting offshore wind development in Portugal. It identifies four areas for commercial offshore wind exploitation with a combined potential capacity of around 9.4 GW. For onshore wind and following the work developed by the working group for the identification of renewable acceleration areas formed by the Portuguese government in 2023 [1], the strategic environmental assessment of the identified areas started in the last trimester of 2025. This procedure is expected to be finalized in the first half of 2026.

The main R&D work in 2025 covered new offshore measurement campaigns along the western coastal of Continental Portugal (project EOLOS.Mar [2]) while the first project to design an offshore floating PhotoVoltaic system with an offshore wind park had successfully complete their wave-tank tests (project SUNRISE [3]).

Market Development

Targets and Policy

The 2030 National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) [4], published in 2024, sets, in the most ambitious scenario, a target of 12.4 GW of installed wind capacity by 2030, including 2.0 GW of offshore wind. To achieve these goals, the plan promotes strategies such as overcapacity, repowering, and hybridization. This updated NECP further strengthens Portugal's commitment to an ambitious renewable energy transition.

In 2025, the Offshore Renewable Energy Allocation Plan (PAER), approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 19/2025 (7 February) [5]. This plan established four areas for commercial exploitation of offshore wind: Viana do Castelo (0.8 GW), Leixões (2.5 GW), Figueira da Foz (4.6 GW), and Sines (1.5 GW). Together, these zones enable around 9.4 GW of offshore wind capacity. In addition, a 5.6 km² area at Aguçadoura is designated for non-commercial research and demonstration projects. PAER was subject to public consultation and identifies areas with strong offshore energy potential while considering spatial constraints and socio-environmental impacts.

A key step supporting offshore development is the action RP-C21-I07.02 – Technical Studies for Offshore Energy Potential [6]. In 2025, experimental campaigns on geophysics, geotechnics, wind, waves, and ocean currents were conducted in the Atlantic to reduce investment uncertainty and support future offshore auctions under the PAER.

Progress and Operational Details

During 2025, the wind power cumulative capacity increased by 5 MW (see Figure 1). By the end of year, the cumulative installed capacity was 5,965 MW distributed over 227 wind parks, corresponding to 2,942 wind turbines [7]. The Portuguese wind power fleet generated 13.80 TWh, which accounts for approximately 25.2% of electricity demand [7-10].

In 2025, decentralized wind power capacity remained unchanged from 2024 at 5.7 MW, while solar PV accounted for the highest increase at this scale [7].

The wind share of the total renewable power generation decreased by 2.1% from 2024 to reach a total share of 30.7% in 2025 [7]. This decrease is attributed to the growth of solar generation, whose share increased by 3% to 19.4%, and to the above-average hydropower production during a particularly wet year, as indicated by a hydro generation index of 1.31 [7], [8].

The average wind power generation at full capacity (including Madeira and Azores islands) stood at 2,314 full load hours, 105 hours lower than in 2024 [7]. For Portugal mainland, the Portuguese transmission system operator (TSO) indicated an annual wind generation index of 0.99, representing a decrease of 6% compared with the previous year [8]. Based on TSO data, wind generation exceeded 100% of demand (excluding electricity used for storage) during several 15-minute intervals, reaching a peak of 107%, on January 5^th 2025. During these periods, pumped hydro storage was activated to absorb excess generation and help manage the high share of wind power in the system. On March 19^th 2025, wind power supplied Portugal with 112.8 GWh of electricity, setting a new national record for daily wind generation [8].

Matters Affecting Growth and Work to Remove Barriers

According to the NECP 2030, there is additional wind power potential to be developed in Portugal. At the same time, the plan considered essential to improving the efficiency and competitiveness of existing wind parks through overcapacity and repowering procedures [4].

One of the main barriers to the development of the wind energy deployment (but not limited to) in Portugal is the licensing process, including, the environmental licensing and grid access procedures. In addition, Portugal is very rich in biodiversity and environmental protected areas, which makes the environmental licensing a very complex and time-consuming process. To overcome these barriers, the Portuguese Government has established a working group to perform environmental strategic assessment of regions with low environmental impact aiming at accelerating environmental licensing procedures [1]. The work began in October 2025 and will be publicly available for consultation in the first semester of 2026.

RD&D Activities

National RD&D Priorities and Budget

National R&D priorities for 2025 kept the reinforcement of the offshore wind innovation by the development of advanced floating turbine concepts designed to improve performance, accessibility and operational reliability. Circular blade designs are also progressing integrating self‑sensing materials and data‑driven monitoring to extend component lifetime. New solutions have also started for sustainable station‑keeping systems to be explored to support next‑generation floating platforms promoting environmentally responsible offshore deployment and creating more eco‑friendly marine wind infrastructures. Portugal has also started contributing to large‑scale testing facilities that validate AI‑powered energy technologies, enhancing safety, efficiency and resilience across renewable‑energy systems.

Most R&D activities are developed at R&D institutes and universities and are funded through national and/or European programs. In 2025, the Portuguese Government approved the extinction of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). Its functions will be merged with those of the National Innovation Agency (ANI) to create a new public agency, the Agency for Research and Innovation, which is set to begin operating in 2026. During this transition, the Portuguese FCT had an initial budget of 607 million EUR, down from 675 million EUR in 2024 [11]. Of this amount, around 381 million EUR were allocated to research projects, international partnerships and scientific employment programmes while 158 million EUR [11] supported doctoral scholarships.

National Research Initiatives and Results

Two demonstration projects were launched, one project VERTI-GO [12] that introduces a 2MW floating vertical-axis wind turbine designed from the ground up for offshore environments that will be tested over 15 months in real conditions at the North Sea. The wind turbine has a newer integrated tower-and-floater design that simplifies maintenance, reducing downtime and lowering costs through a smaller spar floater. The second one, the project REVOLUTION_WIND [13] is developing a new generation of sustainable and circular wind turbine blades by integrating 3D‑printed self‑sensing structures into reversible adhesive joints aiming the improve of the durability, reparability and recyclability of the blades extending their lifetime span.

The Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) funded project EOLOS.Mar [2], led by the National Laboratory for Energy and Geology (LNEG) started an offshore measurement campaign with four Floating Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) systems operating from end of June 2025 and two coastal LiDAR systems plus one coastal meteorological mast all planned to be fully operational in 2026. The RRP action also includes a complementarity project focused on geotechnical seabed studies in PAER regions, conducted by the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) [14].

Test Facilities and Demonstration Projects

Some of the ongoing R&D activities in Portugal are:

The SUNRISE project [3] began installing its 5 MW Offshore Floating PhotoVoltaic system (OFPV) integrated into a commercial offshore wind farm, after completing laboratory tests and wave tank trials.

The FLOATFARM project [15] completed its environmental codesign phase and initiated prototype testing of mooring and dynamic cabling systems, aiming to increase the technological maturity of floating wind and reduce energy costs.

The demonstration project NiD4OCEAN [16] launched the first nature-inclusive designs for offshore wind and underwater cables to start creating artificial habitats promoting the survival and growth of selected plants or animals

The demonstration project NAU AZUL [17] is dedicated to the deployment of its 2 MW floating wind demonstrator project off the coast of Aguçadoura, Portugal, inside a TUPEM (Título de Utilização Privativa do Espaço Marítimo) authorization area for the next 10-years.

Collaborative Research

Portugal currently participates in the following IEA wind tasks:

• Task 51 - Forecasting for the weather-driven energy system.
• Task 63 - Design and Operation of Power Systems with Large Amounts of Wind Power including VRE.

Portugal is keeping observing Task 49 concerning offshore floating systems. In addition to the IEA Wind TCP activities, Portugal is represented in the European Energy Research Alliance Wind Programme (EERA-Wind), the Energy Systems Integration (EERA-ESI) and the European Sustainable Energy Innovation Alliance (ESEIA).

Moreover, Portugal keeps coordinating the Scientifical and Operational results of the COST Action MODENERLANDS – Modular Energy Islands, related to sustainable energy in islands (physical and artificial) covering offshore floating power systems, their regulation and grid integration, and their socio-economic and environment aspects.

Concerning R&D in Portugal, the following list presents some examples of Portuguese participation in national and international projects:

• TAILWIND: A Horizon Europe project to advance mooring lines and anchoring systems to unlock cost reductions, environmental benefits, and supply chain diversification [18].
• SUSTAINOW: A Horizon Europe project that aims to develop open-access innovative solutions that support marine data access, optimal site selection and offshore wind farms design [19].
• BETTER: A Horizon Europe project addresses a multidisciplinary team to perform a paradigm shift in offshore wind farm design to perverse marine biodiversity and ecosystem services [20].
• ENERGYGUARD: A Horizon Europe project developing an open testing facility that uses AI and digital twins to validate energy systems across transmission networks, microgrids, and renewable energy communities under real-world conditions [21].

Impact of Wind Energy

Environmental Impact

According to the Portuguese TSO, renewable energy power plants avoided an estimated 13.4 million tons of CO₂ emissions in 2025 [22].

Following temporary measures implemented after the 28 April blackout in the Iberian Peninsula, fossil fuel dependence in mainland Portugal's electricity mix increased to nearly 16% in 2025. This represents an increase of 5% when compared with the value observed in 2024, as depicted in Figure 3. The share of natural gas contribution to the power system increased, reversing the downward trend observed in recent years. This situation resulted in an increase of 55% in CO₂ emissions compared to 2024. The 2025 CO₂ emissions totalised nearly 2.9 million tons (MT) in mainland Portugal [8, 23]. Despite the reduction in imports, the electricity trade balance remained import-dependent, with imports covering 17.5% of domestic consumption. Total electricity demand in mainland Portugal was 53.04 TWh [8].

Economic Benefits and Industry Development

The wind power industry and deployment activities in Portugal supported approximately 1 to 10 direct and indirect jobs per installed MW [24].

Between January to November, wind-generated electricity generated EUR 0.905 million for wind power plant developers in Portugal mainland. During this period, the mean tariff paid to onshore wind power plants with feed-in-tariff was 81.26 €/MWh, while for the offshore power plants, the average tariff paid was 172.20 €/MWh [23].

Enercon continues as the lead deployer of wind turbines in Portugal, with a share of 49.3% of wind turbines installed. Siemens-Gamesa is the second largest with 18.2%, followed by Vestas 16.9%, Nordex 7.6%, GEWE 2.7%, Alstom 1.8%, Suzlon 1.7%, and Bonus 1.3%. Other manufacturers make up the remaining 0.5 % [25].

Next Term

The Strategic Environmental Assessment procedure will be in public consultation during 2026 to collect feedback from the relevant stakeholders which include environmental assessment entities (NGOs and Licensing entities), and, at a later stage, open to public in general. This procedure will enable to fine tune the Acceleration Areas for Renewable Energy Systems development and provide recommendations for the use of these areas.

In 2026, supported by national funding, offshore floating wind development will be driven by real-world demonstrations of pioneering prototype systems, including the one developed under the Nau Azul project. These demonstrations aim to reduce technology costs and accelerate technology maturity, while also advancing digitalisation and real-time monitoring capabilities.

References

1. Establishment of a working group designated as the "Working Group for the Definition of Renewable Energy Acceleration Areas". Order n.º 11912/2023, 23rd of November. https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/despacho/11912-2023-224661349 (accessed 9 June 2026).
2. The PRR EOLOS.MAR Project. https://eolosmar.lneg.pt (accessed 15 April 2026)
3. The Nautical SUNRISE Project. https://nautical-sunrise.eu (accessed 15 April 2026)
4. Portuguese 2030 National Energy and Climate Plan (version 2024). https://commission.europa.eu/publications/portugal-final-updated-necp-2021-2030-submitted-2024_en
5. Offshore Renewable Energy Allocation Plan. The Resolution of the Council of Ministers (RCM) nº. 19/2025 7 February 2025. https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/resolucao-conselho-ministros/19-2025-906519104 (accessed 9 June 2026).
6. Action RP-C21-I07.02 – Technical Studies for Offshore Energy Potential. https://recuperarportugal.gov.pt/transicao-climatica/repowereu/rp-c21-i07-01-estudos-tecnicos-para-potencial-energetico-offshore/ (accessed 9 June 2026).
7. Wind power capacity data. Direção Geral de Energia e Geologia (DGEG), Renováveis: Estatísticas Rápidas – nº 256 – março 2026 (accessed 9 June 2026). https://www.dgeg.gov.pt/pt/estatistica/energia/publicacoes/estatisticas-rapidas-das-renovaveis (accessed 9 June 2026).
8. The TSO Portuguese production and consumption data. https://datahub.ren.pt (accessed 9 June 2026).
9. Electricity demand data from Madeira Island. https://www.eem.pt (accessed 9 June 2026).
10. Electricity demand data from Azores Island. https://www.eda.pt (accessed 9 June 2026).
11. Investment costs in R&D in Portugal. Orçamento do Estado 2025. Nota Explicativa. Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior. pages. 57, 63 (in Portuguese). Download from: Nota Explicativa OE 2025 (accessed 15 April 2026).
12. The VERTI-GO Project. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101235735 (accessed 15 April 2026)
13. The REVOLUTION_WIND Project. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101153013 (accessed 15 April 2026)
14. The OWF - Technical Studies for Offshore Wind Potential Project. https://owf.ipma.pt/ (accessed 15 April 2026)
15. The FLOATFARM Project. https://floatfarm-project.eu/ (accessed 15 April 2026).
16. The NiD4OCEAN Project. https://nid4ocean.eu/project/ (accessed 15 April 2026)
17. The NAU AZUL Project. https://gazellewindpower.com (accessed 15 April 2026)
18. The TAILWIND Project. https://tailwind-project.eu/ (accessed 15 April 2026)
19. The SUSTAINOW Project. https://www.sustainow.eu/ (accessed 15 April 2026)
20. The BETTER Project. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101169348 (accessed 15 April 2026)
21. The ENERGYGUARD Project. https://energy-guard.eu/ (accessed 15 April 2026)
22. Green finance report 2025. REN - Redes Energéticas Nacionais. https://www.ren.pt/media/nespxqet/green-finance-report-2025-ren.pdf (accessed 11 June 2026)
23. Specific CO₂ emissions and regulated electricity tariffs. Energy Services Regulatory Authority. https://www.erse.pt (accessed 9 June 2026).
24. Number of direct and indirect jobs in wind industry. Associação Portuguesa de Energias Renováveis (APREN), Yearbook 2024 publication. https://anuario.apren.pt/contents/APREN-ANUARIO_RESUMO_DE_ANO.pdf page 28 and https://anuario.apren.pt/pt/renovaveis for consulting chart numbers. (accessed 9 June 2026).
25. Installed wind parks in Portugal. Energias endógenas de Portugal. https://e2p.inegi.up.pt (accessed 9 June 2026).