The Minister of Environment and Energy said today that the new electricity interconnection with Spain will give “more resilience to the grid” and protect the countries “against blackouts.”
“It gives us greater resilience, on the one hand and on the other, we can increase the capacity to produce renewable energy, provide energy supply security and reduce the probability of a blackout,” explained Maria da Graça Carvalho to journalists in Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain.
The minister spoke after the symbolic inauguration of the high-voltage interconnection between the Portuguese grid and the Spanish grid, through the substations of Ponte de Lima (district of Viana do Castelo), Fontefría and Beariz, in an investment of 70 million euros on the Portuguese side to reinforce electricity exchanges between the two countries and to integrate more renewable energies.
According to the official, Portugal has already reached the European Union target for 2030 of achieving 15% interconnections between Portugal and Spain.
“To have an efficient and sustainable electric system it is necessary to have production, storage and grid. The goal is to have a stronger network, both within each country and in the interconnection between countries,” she explained.
In her speech, the minister highlighted the “reinforced latticework” of the new interconnection, necessary to respond to the demands of mayors and reduce the impact “on the environment, on the landscape, on people and cultural values.”
“On the Portuguese side the line crosses the Peneda Gerês National Park. This led to an intensified latticework to ensure the smallest possible impact,” she stressed.
Due to protests by mayors, there was the “need to relocate some substations” and to make “a partial redesign of the route,” she said, also referring to compensation payments from REN – Rede Elétrica Nacional to the affected Portuguese municipalities.
According to REN, the new interconnection will sustainably reach a minimum commercial interconnection capacity of 3,000 megawatts in both directions, as agreed at the Iberian Summit between the governments of Portugal and Spain.
According to information available on REN’s website, the project allows increasing the interconnection capacity between Portugal and Spain, in line with the objectives of the Iberian Electricity Market (MIBEL) and with European cross-border capacity targets.
In practice, the new infrastructure should allow more electricity exchanges between the two countries, reduce congestion on the networks and facilitate the integration of renewable production into the electrical system.
The new interconnection enters service a little over a year after the Iberian blackout of 28 April 2025, which affected Portugal and Spain and reinforced the debate on the need for more robust electrical networks.
The interconnection is part of a new axis between Beariz and Fontefría, in Spain, and the Porto area, passing in Portugal through the substations of Ponte de Lima and Vila Nova de Famalicão.
The project contemplates a double 400 kV overhead line between Beariz, Fontefría and Ponte de Lima, with an estimated total length of 90 kilometres, of which 18 in Spain and 72 in Portugal.
In an initial phase, the cross-border stretch between Fontefría and Ponte de Lima will have only one circuit installed.
