The new diploma that establishes the organization and operation of the National Electric System regime, approved by the Council of Ministers on March 19, is awaiting promulgation by the President of the Republic and will have a “superior public interest” mechanism to accelerate renewable projectsthe Minister of Environment and Energy announced on Friday.
Among the measures foreseen in the article, Maria da Graça Carvalho highlighted, during the conference “Energy that Moves the Country”, organized by the newspaper ECO, the aforementioned mechanism, applicable to the planning, construction and operation of renewable electricity production centers and storage facilities.
The governor assured that the priority will continue to be the development of joint projects with all competent entities, but admitted that the Executive may resort to this instrument “in duly justified cases”.
Battery auction
Maria da Graça Carvalho also announced that the Government will launch an auction for 750 Megavolt-ampere (MVA) of batteries and prepare contracts for difference (CfD) to stabilize energy prices and reinforce investment in the sector. The auction model will be presented on June 29th and will include additional renewable generation capacity already available in the electricity system.
As he explained, the competition will provide compensation mechanisms for the municipalities where the projects are installed, through the sharing of revenues associated with the activity of the electricity production centers.
The minister said that the Executive is working with the regulator on medium and long-term contracts, namely CfD, to reduce consumers’ exposure to the volatility of energy markets and provide greater stability to investors’ income, whilst safeguarding the proper functioning of the market.
The mechanisms should be applied mainly to technologies with greater risk and investment, such as wind energy, also allowing for a upgrade of existing parks to increase production capacity and efficiency.
For the person responsible, increasing wind production by taking advantage of existing projects will be essential to meet the goals of the National Energy Plan and Climate 2030 (PNEC).
Record number of network connection requests
In the area of electrical demand, he mentioned that requests for connection to the National Transmission Grid reached record levels, with in June 2025 around 30 Gigavolt-ampere (GVA) of pending requests and another 9 GVA already allocated, but not yet put into operation.
Faced with pressure on the network, the Executive decided to extend the High Demand Zone (ZGP) regime to the entire continental territory, resulting in expressions of interest equivalent to 4.6 GVA.
According to the minister, REN has already indicated to the Government the need for an investment of around 400 million euros in strengthening the electricity network to respond to increased demand.
Transposition of RED III
During the intervention, the governor also said that the transposition of the Directive on Renewable Energy (RED III) is “in the final phase”, being divided into three main diplomas: one relating to the targets for incorporating renewable energy, another already mentioned that regulates the National Electric System regime and a third relating to the technical specifications of fuels.
According to the minister, the diplomas relating to renewable targets and technical fuel specifications are already public, although they have not yet been approved, as they have been subject to a period of stand-still with the European Commission.
In the case of the fuel diploma, this deadline ended on May 18th and the text is only awaiting approval by the Council of Ministers. The diploma relating to the goals remains in effect for a period of stand-still until July 22nd, following the same process.
