Community co-funding approved for transmission network project at sea

The Autoridade de Gestão do Programa Operacional Sustentabilidade e Eficiência no Uso de Recursos (Managing Authority of the Operational Programme Sustainability and Efficiency in the Use of Resources) approved the application by REN - Rede Eléctrica Nacional, S.A, ("REN") for the construction of the electricity transmission grid infrastructure for the connection of marine renewable energies power plants off the coast of Viana do Castelo. 

The approved financial support with a maximum amount of €30M is intended to support, on a co-funding basis, the investment costs with the installation of a submarine cable in the Portuguese territorial sea, off the coast of Viana do Castelo, with a length of approximately 17 km (which is already in service since the end of 2019) and a switching station, which is currently under construction, in the Port of Viana do Castelo. These infrastructures, configured for operation at 150 kV voltage level, are the first of their kind in Portugal capable of operating at very high voltage, and allow the integration in the National Electric System of power plants up to a total of 200 MVA. 

This project and its corresponding co-funding are part of the Portuguese national energy policy, which seeks to harness the ocean's potential for renewable electricity production and to promote the development of new electricity production technologies especially designed for sea conditions such as of the continental territorial sea. In this context, the entry into operation, in 2019, of the first project of a wind farm power plant connected to the submarine cable, the "Windfloat Atlantic", a pioneer at the global level, seeking to exploit the operation of wind farms in deep waters, should be noted.

This project of the National Transmission Grid operated by REN takes on special strategic importance for the country and for the region of Viana do Castelo, opening a new field of exploitation of sustainable endogenous energy resources at sea, in full compliance with domestic and European objectives of decarbonisation of the economy and reduction of energy dependence, contributing to the targets of electricity production share from renewable energy sources and to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.