HARNESSING THE OCEAN SKY
The first of its kind, Portugal is building a hugely ambitious floating wind farm set to come online in 2019.
A record 15.6GW of wind energy was installed in the EU in 2017, 12,484MW of which were onshore and 3,154MW offshore. With 11.6% of the EU's total energy demand now met by wind, this is now the second largest form of power generation capacity in Europe and scarcely behind gas installations, according to Brussels-based advocacy group WindEurope. Portugal, for its part, had 5,313MW of wind capacity installed by the end of 2017, an impressive 38.6% of the country's total renewable operational capacity.
Already boasting one of the continent's largest onshore wind farms, Alto Minho, which provides electricity to more than 1 million citizens in the north, Portugal is now ramping up its offshore efforts. Set to come into operation later this year, WindFloat Atlantic, the Iberian Peninsula's first ever offshore floating wind farm, will provide 25MW of energy—enough to power 60,000 homes—and be able to anchor in depths greater than 40m. Since more than 80% of European offshore wind resources are thought to be located in waters 60m or deeper, and thus not (yet) economically viable, projects of this magnitude are important precedents for the industry. And in addition to being able to withstand winds of 60 knots, WindFloat Atlantic will also be able to withstand waves of up to 17m.
As a central goal of its Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) to develop, standardize, and manufacture improved multi-MW modular floating platforms, the European Commission has been firmly behind the project's launch. Of the EUR96 billion provided for the farm's construction, EUR60 billion came from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and another EUR29.9 billion from the Commission's NER300 program, one of the world's largest funding programs for innovative low-carbon energy projects. The Portuguese government provided an additional EUR6 million.
To be constructed by Windplus S.A., a subsidiary of Spanish firms EDP Renováveis (79.4%) and Repsol S.A. (19.4%), and American wind power company Principle Power Inc. (1.2%). The first of its kind, it will use Principle Power's custom-made triangular semisubmersible platforms and be located 20km off the coast of Viana do Castelo near the country's northwest border with Spain.
HARNESSING THE OCEAN SKY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Focus: Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries
Making an Impact
Established in 1996, the Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries (CPLP) is a mechanism geared at linking and sharing the experience of Lusophone countries. Besides Portugal, this includes Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
read articleFocus
Don’t Mind the Disruption
Having won the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, Lisbon hosted the 2018 event. The relevance? Well, the contest began back in 1956 as a showcase not only of song, but of then-nascent live television broadcast technology. Today, Portugal is on the cutting edge of new technological developments.
read articleInterview
João Pedro Soeiro de Matos Fernandes , Minister , Environment and Energy Transition
The Ministry for the Environment and Energy Transition is focusing on decarbonizing the economy, valuing the territory and its habitats, and striving for a more circular use of the country's resources.
read articleInterview
António Braz Costa , General Manager, Portuguese Technological Centre for the Textile & Clothing Industries (CITEVE)
CITEVE has transformed the industry by promoting value addition, adopting the latest technologies, and ensuring the highest standards of environmental sustainability.
read articleFocus: New airport
Right Time to Seize Missed Opportunities
Portugal has seen its air traffic figures increase by as much as 80% in the last five years. As a result, its transportation infrastructure, and Lisbon's airport in particular, cannot cope with the rising numbers. A new airport project that will turn a military base into a commercial airport is now under discussion to bring much-needed relief to air traffic.
read articleInterview
Germano de Sousa , President, Grupo Germano de Sousa
Grupo Germano de Sousa's success can best be summed up by its understanding that science and medicine only really progress when technological development is combined with a deeper respect for human values and professional ethics.
read articleInterview
Isabel Capeloa Gil , Rector, Universidade Católica
Having pioneered the introduction of multiple subject areas to Portugal's tertiary education scene, Universidade Católica is aspiring to establish the country's first private medical school and introduce cutting-edge digital transformation.
read articleInterview
Carlos Guillén Gestoso , President, Escola Universitária de Ciências Empresariais, Saúde, Tecnologias e Engenharia & President, Atlantica University
Atlantica University differentiates through its company-university model and an MBA program in partnership with the University of California, Berkley, among other initiatives, to produce practical theoreticians.
read articleFocus: Public teaching staff
An Age-old Problem
Over a decade of austerity measures combined with an ageing population have seen the average age of the Portuguese public teaching staff progressively climb to one of the highest in the OECD. With frozen salaries, an extended retirement age, and precarious working conditions, today the sector faces one of its biggest challenge yet.
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Pedro Queiroz , General Manager, Federation of the Portuguese Agri-Food Industry (FIPA)
Portugal's economic recovery has seen its F&B sector emerge with annual turnovers of EUR16 billion, thanks to FIPA's undeterred focus on stable policies, excellent nutrition standards, and sustainability.
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