State wants to close gas-fired power stations before 2040

Portugal’s environment minister on Wednesday said in parliament that he believes it is possible to bring forward the 2040 target for the closure of gas-fired power plants, as happened with coal-fired plants.

The minister stressed that he does not believe it makes sense to redo the Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality 2050 before 2025, although he believes it is possible to bring forward some targets, such as the closure of gas power plants.

“Our target is achievable, it will be met if there are not too many policy swings between now and then,” the minister said, adding that recent indications and the interest companies have shown in decarbonisation allow him to believe that, most likely, the 2050 date (of the roadmap) could be brought forward.

In his inauguration speech in October 2019, the prime minister, António Costa, announced that his new government was prepared to close the Sines coal-fired power plant in September 2023, bringing forward the planned closure schedule that was between 2025 and 2030.

In 2020, EDP decided to bring forward the closure of its coal-fired plants in the Iberian Peninsula (in Sines and Asturias, Spain), given the continued deterioration of market conditions for these plants during the first half of the year.

At the end of last year, the energy company received the necessary authorisations to shut down activity at the Sines coal-fired power plant as of January 15.