The Directorate-General for Energy and Geology (“DGEG”) has recently published an announcement initiating a public consultation regarding the exceptional procedure for allocation of grid connection capacity in a High Demand Zone (Zonas de Grande Procura “ZGP”) (“Announcement”). This procedure is regulated under Decree-Law No. 80/2023 of 6 September, Ministerial Order No. 15/2026/1 of 9 January, and Order No. 1135/2026 of 2 February, which designated the entire mainland territory as an ZGP.
Interested parties seeking to obtain grid connection capacity under the exceptional regime for the connection of consumption installations must submit a binding expression of interest and provide a guarantee (caução) within 20 Business Days from the publication of the Announcement in the Official Gazette (Diário da República).
The expression of interest must be formalized and submitted in accordance with Annex I of the Announcement. The guarantee (caução) amount is determined based on the capacity requested in the expression of interest and in accordance with the marginal tiers set out in Article 6 of Ministerial Order No. 15/2026/1 of 9 January.
The allocated capacity will be documented in a connection capacity title issued by the grid operator. The title shall set out the conditions and obligations to be observed by the respective holder, including the criteria applicable to the assessment of compliance with the scheduling of capacity allocated under the procedure.
DGEG further clarifies that this procedure does not apply to grid access requests for the connection of low-voltage consumption installations, nor to medium- and high-voltage requests with a capacity equal to or less than:
- (i) 50 MVA, in the case of grid access requests for the supply of essential public services, projects predominantly intended for housing, or the operation of electric vehicle and vessel charging points; and
- (ii) 20 MVA, in all other cases.
