German investment of up to $2 billion in 30 wind farms off Viana is at risk

German investment of up to  billion in 30 wind farms off Viana is at risk

The government has given another 10 days of public consultations on the project to delimit the Technology Free Zone (ZLT) in Viana do Castelo, in order to innovate and develop electricity production using renewable energies from a peripheral source or location. This announcement comes after news reported by the media about the interest of the German company BayWa.re, which planned a wind farm project for that region, to follow another path.

The draft decree defining the Technological Free Zone for renewable energies of oceanic origin or location off the coast of Viana do Castelo was submitted, on November 18 last year, to public consultations, by joint notification of the Ministries of Economy and the Ministry of Finance. Sea, Environment and Energy, which gave 30 days to submit proposals from the day the notice was published.

However, according to Business magazinethe German company BayWare, which submitted in October last year a project to construct a park with 30 wind turbines, with a capacity of up to 600 megawatts, for the Viana do Castelo experiment area, was twice rejected “OK” for the project, because it is commercial in nature.

This Friday, the Minister of the Economy and the Sea, Costa Silva, and the Minister of State for Energy and Climate, Ana Fontura Gouveia, warned that “without prejudice to the study and analysis of the statements made in that headquarters [de audição pública aberta em novembro]the decision to submit the draft decree that initiates the delimitation of ZLT for renewable energies of oceanic origin or location, off the coast of Viana do Castelo “to public consultation”.

In November 2022, days before this bill’s public consultation notice was published, the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services (DGRM) revealed the advantages of ZLT, asserting that its constitution aims to “promote synergies” in energy production from renewable sources at sea.

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“ZLT aims to promote and facilitate the implementation of research, demonstration and testing activities, in a real environment, of technologies, products, services, processes, innovative models, concepts, business models and defined regulatory frameworks, within the scope of production activities, storage and promotion of electric mobility and autonomous consumption of electricity,” the note noted, without naming, however. , with purely commercial production, which is of interest to the Germans.

According to the government, citing the same newspaper, the German company will wait until “deployment areas” of this nature are named, which will be in the final approval process.

ZLT ​​is located adjacent to the Atlantic Windfloat project, the first floating wind farm in continental Europe, off the coast of Viana do Castelo.

ZTL is part of the program Startup Portugal – National Entrepreneurship Strategy and was introduced by CeiiA – Center for Engineering and Development, in 2019.

The first ZLT for the Navy, in Troia, in the municipality of Grândola, was inaugurated in July 2022.

By Andrea Hargraves

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