Portugal opens consultation on strategy targeting 6.9 GW storage by 2030

Portugal has opened a public consultation on its National Energy Storage Strategy (ENAE), which aims to accelerate the integration of storage into the National Electricity System. The consultation will remain open until Sept. 16, 2026.

The strategy targets 6.9 GW of installed storage capacity by 2030 and 9.76 GW by 2040. It was developed based on technical studies by INESC TEC, INESC-ID and IN+, entities belonging to Portugal’s INESC network of research and technological development institutes, and organizes its measures around four main pillars: economic value and participation in system services, regulatory frameworks, streamlined grid connections, and technological innovation.

The ENAE targets include pumped-hydro storage as well as batteries and other large-scale storage technologies. The strategy also proposes accompanying this deployment with measures aimed at distributed storage and demand-side flexibility, including hydrogen production, electric vehicle charging and heat pumps.

According to the technical analysis underpinning the document, storage will need to contribute to achieving 82% to 85% renewable integration in electricity generation by 2030 and maintain a trajectory of increasing renewable penetration through 2040, when it could reach 89% to 91.4%.

The document highlights storage’s contribution to improving the profitability of solar power by increasing the price captured by the technology and reducing losses associated with periods of high renewable generation.

However, the studies warn that significantly exceeding the planned targets could generate diminishing marginal benefits and even economic cannibalization among storage assets themselves.

New mechanisms

One of the central elements of the strategy is the creation of economic conditions that enable projects to secure financing. Portugal proposes a complementary remuneration structure, or value stacking, combining electricity markets, system services and capacity mechanisms.

Storage should have access to future capacity mechanisms on a non-discriminatory basis compared with other technologies. These mechanisms should recognize both fast-deployment, shorter-lived solutions such as batteries and large-scale, long-duration assets such as pumped hydro.

The ENAE also proposes developing new markets for services such as fast frequency response, synthetic inertia and voltage regulation. In this area, the document highlights the grid-forming capabilities of storage system inverters.

The strategy considers that a combination of synchronous compensation and storage operated in grid-forming mode could provide a technically robust and economically balanced solution for the dynamic stability of the Iberian power system.

The plan also proposes freeing up grid capacity reserved by projects without viable execution prospects, accelerating permitting and facilitating the connection of standalone and co-located storage facilities. It also proposes eliminating potential situations involving double tariff charges.

In terms of innovation, Portugal wants to strengthen research into sodium-ion batteries, flow batteries, long-duration storage, recycling and digitalization. The strategy also proposes research into seasonal storage solutions, such as hydrogen in salt caverns and compressed air in geological formations.

From pv magazine España