Portugal opens first grid-connection auctions since 2021, with battery storage and municipalities' share

The government has launched two auctions to award grid-connection capacity: 300 MVA of surplus capacity and 750 MVA for standalone battery storage. They are the first competitive procedures of this kind since 2021. Municipalities will receive 70% of revenue from the surplus-capacity auction and 30% from the storage auction, plus annual payments from project holders. Solar projects that combine power generation with farming get special attention. The auctions support a draft national strategy targeting 3 GW of battery storage by 2030, and a rule setting technical grid-connection requirements for storage has also been published.