No end in sight for greenfield lull in Portugal

Osborne Clarke are proud sponsors of inspiratia’s riskWatch which assesses the risk of investing in renewables energy projects in the most active markets globally. Please see below an extract from inspiratia’s latest report on the Portuguese renewables market.

As Portugal continues with moves to control costs within its electricity sector, the renewable energy market will be compelled to become truly comfortable with the merchant projects. But, in the intervening transition period as new greenfield developments remain subdued, the country’s riskWatch score has dropped slightly to 63.51% with a moderately negative outlook.

Portugal was among the vanguard of countries seeking to build up a significant domestic renewable energy generation resource, a process that emerged alongside the gradual liberalisation of its energy sector, with the latter largely completed by 2006. However, market liquidity and government balance sheets were drastically damaged by the global financial crisis a decade ago and this largely put paid to the deployment of greenfield projects in the country. Nevertheless, the concerted efforts made by successive governments of the country has culminated in onshore wind plants contributing just under a quarter of the total energy consumed in Portugal over the past five years.

So what are the policy and regulation, project drivers, macroeconomics and politics driving change in Portugal? Please contact one of Osborne Clarke’s experts below to request a full copy of the inspiratia report.

About inspiratia: inspiratia provides real-time data, forward-looking analysis, and timely market news relating to global infrastructure and renewables sectors.