REN managed more than 10,000 hectares of forest in 2024

As part of its work to protect its infrastructures from rural fires, REN – Redes Energéticas Nacionais carried out vegetation management in an area of 10,200 hectares during 2024, having contacted more than 36,000 landowners for this purpose. As 66% of its power lines and gas pipelines are located in rural areas, over the past five years, REN has managed more than 50,000 hectares, equivalent to a motorway from Lisbon to Maputo.

Regarding the adaptation of land use in protection corridors along power lines, 461 hectares were (re)forested, in 2024, involving 1,900 landowners.

Through its easement corridors reforestation programme, REN has (re)forested 4,553 ha between 2010-2024, by planting more than 1.5 million trees in collaboration with over 24,000 landowners.

The most commonly planted species were strawberry trees and oaks, thus increasing biodiversity and resilience to forest fires in the managed areas.

In the same year, REN planted 1,355 “Laranjeiras do Ermelo” (a traditional variety of orange trees native to the Ermelo region) across 2.71 ha, in partnership with the São Jorge and Ermelo Parish Council (Arcos de Valdevez) and the Baldios de São Jorge (communal lands traditionally managed by local communities in São Jorge). This planting initiative represents the culmination of an effort that began in 2019 with local communities, aimed at promoting and protecting this orange variety, which was introduced to the region by Cistercian Benedictine monks in the 13th century and is intrinsically linked to the region's cultural heritage. However, it has been experiencing significant decline (currently only about 500 trees remain in production), associated with the aging population and abandonment of traditional practices.