In statements to journalists on the sidelines of the Lisbon Energy Summit, which is taking place between today and Wednesday at the Lisbon International Fair, in Lisbon, Maria da Graça Carvalho indicated that the Government plans to announce the launch of the 'offshore' wind auction (at sea) in July.

The minister admitted that the capacity will be revised "downwards" compared to the perspective of the previous executive.

"Initially, 10 gigawatts (GW) were planned", then they went down to 2 GW. We are trying to lower it so that the value does not have such a reflection on consumer costs", she said.

Maria da Graça Carvalho explained that the executive is "studying the scenario and the value, the quantity, with REN and ERSE [Energy Services Regulatory Authority]".

"We want to follow this technology, but not in a dimension that has a prohibitive cost. We want it to be accessible, but not so small that it does not allow us to study the effect on technological and industrial development in Portugal. It is in this balance that we are seeing the optimal value to launch the auction", she explained.

The Government had assumed the ambition of reaching an installed capacity of 10 GW of 'offshore' wind power by 2030, to be awarded by auction, but later revised the capacity down to 2 GW.

On 31 October, the previous Government announced the opening of the initial stage of the tender procedure to develop electricity generation centres based on 'offshore' wind power, and the dialogue phase with companies expressing interest was concluded.

The aim was to "accelerate the incorporation of renewable energy sources into electricity production and strengthen the security of supply, a competitive procedure is underway for the installation and operation of electricity generation centres based on renewable energy sources of oceanic origin or location ('offshore' wind power)".

According to the transition document organised by the previous executive, "the pre-qualification and bidding phase should be initiated during the first half of the year, as soon as the terms of the auction are defined, based on the contributions of the technical working group created for this purpose".

Asked if other revisions of the targets of the National Energy and Climate Plan 2030 (PNEC) are planned, Maria da Graça Carvalho said that "the general targets will remain", but the Government is "doing the maths, always on the principle that it will not translate into a cost for consumers".

In this sense, she also admitted a slight downward revision in the target set for hydrogen: "we want to follow with a dimension that is more appropriate", she said.

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