The government of Portugal has announced plans to invest €400 million (US$466 million) to improve its grid management capabilities and increase its battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity.
Energy and environment minister Maria da Graca Carvalho announced the plans with local press this week, including an interview with news network RTP3 earlier this week (28 July), in light of the Iberian blackout earlier this year.
The action totals 31 measures, some of which have already been implemented and some of which will have their implementation sped up. It will be part-funded by EU funds, but the costs borne by the Portuguese state will increase energy bills by around 1%, the minister added.
One of those is €137 million to go towards improving the operational and control capacity of the electricity grid to help it deal with complex intermittent renewable power sources such as wind and solar, she said.
The plan also includes the launch of an auction for large-scale BESS capacity by 2026, as well as €25 million in financial support to improve the resilience of critical infrastructure like hospitals, by equipping them with solar PV and BESS, for example.
