Government sees 2 GW of offshore wind capacity at Sines

Portugal’s Secretary of State for the Sea, José Maria Costa, said on Tuesday that Sines, a port in Setúbal district, south of Lisbon, has the potential to take “about two gigawatts” of offshore windpower capacity, so contributing to the ongoing energy transition in the country.

“Sines may aim to have in the near future about two gigiwatts of ocean renewable energy, which is also a very important factor in the development of [the fight against] climate change and the transition we are making in terms of energy,” he said.

Costa was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the fifth ever Sea Fair, an event organised by the Sines Tecnopolo and the municipality on entrepreneurship, tourism, ports and logistics, training and innovation.

Asked about possible investments in the field of renewable energy generation in this territory, Costa explained that these are “projects related to offshore wind farms that may even have the production of green hydrogen.”

According to the official, an inter-ministerial working group involving the Secretaries of State for the Sea, Environment and Energy and Infrastructure, “began operating” on Monday with the aim of “sizing up the wind potential available” on our coast.

“We are talking about 10 gigawatts at a national level, [and] the existing potential in the Sines sea is two gigawatts,” he said.

The group’s work also encompasses the adaptation of “port infrastructures” to the “new challenges” – as well as the “renovation and qualification of electrical transport infrastructures.

“And everything that will be an industrial sector that will be built around the construction of these infrastructures and the technological potential and knowledge transfer that are associated,” he added.

In Sines, he said, “there is a strong strategic vision of all actors and a strong alignment with what are the national designs” that will “transform the Alentejo” and “create conditions” to “have more jobs, more qualification and quality of life.”

Sines is Portugal’s main deepwater port, with several major energy and industrial facilities nearby.

The government has the declared ambition of achieving an installed capacity of offshore wind of 10 GW by 2030, with licences to be allocated through auctions.