Portugal’s government announces €19 million for 112 energy communities with a further €94 million to award

Portugal’s Ministry of Environment and Energy (MAEN) announced on Tuesday that its Environmental Fund has approved 112 projects under the ‘Notice of Support for the Implementation of Renewable Energy Communities (CER) and Collective Self-Consumption (ACC)’.

The fund was launched almost three years ago, in June 2022, with a total funding of €19.1 million, out of a total of €38 million.

In other words, there is still €18.9 million to be allocated. In August 2024, the government also launched a second notice to support energy communities, with €75 million which will also still be pending.

In the case of the first notice in 2022, the initial amount of €30 million has been topped up with €8 million for investments on Central Public Administration buildings, bringing the total amount to €38 million.

The notice initially foresaw an equitable distribution for three categories of buildings with €10 million allocated to each: residential buildings; central government public administration buildings, and commerce and services buildings.

With this latest grant, public admin buildings will now get €18 million, supporting the government’s State buildings decarbonisation policy.

“The central aim of this policy is to foster electrical energy production from renewable sources and reduce primary energy consumption from buildings by at least 30%.

The measure also fosters auto-consumption capacity and shared energy in residential sectors and public administration and services with an estimated increased installed capacity of 93MW.