- Portugal announced a €400 million investment plan to strengthen its grid and boost battery energy storage to 750MW, following a major blackout earlier this year.
- The government will launch a BESS auction by 2026 and invest €137 million in grid control upgrades, partly funded by the EU.
The Portuguese government has committed €400 million (US$466 million) to modernise its electricity grid and expand its battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity, Energy and Environment Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho announced on Monday, July 28.
The investment package comprises 31 measures, some already in motion and others set for accelerated rollout. The initiative responds directly to the widespread Iberian blackout earlier this year. It addresses weaknesses in Portugal’s grid, particularly its ability to integrate intermittent renewables like wind and solar.
Carvalho confirmed that €137 million will strengthen the grid’s operational and control capabilities. Additionally, the government will launch a large-scale BESS auction by 2026 and provide €25 million to equip critical infrastructure, including hospitals, with solar PV and battery storage systems.
EU funds will co-finance the programme, but Portuguese taxpayers will shoulder part of the cost. Energy bills are expected to rise by around 1%.
Portugal currently operates just 13MW of BESS capacity but plans to scale up to 750MW. In April, Galp commissioned a 5MW/20MWh project delivered by Powin, which is now under administration. Separately, a €100 million EU Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) scheme will support 500MW of new BESS capacity across 43 projects, with winners announced earlier this year.
Authorities traced the blackout not to renewable sources but to three failures within the national grid operator Red Eléctrica: inadequate voltage control, abnormal voltage and frequency oscillations, and the improper disconnection of power plants.
With this initiative, Portugal is taking decisive steps toward a more resilient, modern, and renewable-ready energy infrastructure.