New Smart Siting Guide for Portugal Sets Blueprint for Nature-Positive Renewable Energy Expansion

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and ZERO today announced the launch of the Smart Siting Guide for Portugal, a science-based roadmap to accelerate renewable energy deployment while safeguarding biodiversity and social values.

Portugal has committed to generating 93% of its electricity from renewables by 2030, a target that demands rapid expansion of wind and solar. The Smart Siting Guide provides the spatial evidence and stakeholder engagement framework to support the final designation of Renewable Acceleration Areas (RAAs) and coordinated spatial planning for renewables, in line with the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED III).

Key Findings from the Smart Siting Guide:

• Solar Energy: Mainland Portugal has more than five times the low-conflict land needed to meet its 2030 ground-mounted solar goal, giving policymakers and developers flexibility to choose sites that work for both energy and the environment.
• Wind Energy: Up to 70% of the onshore wind target can be met on low-conflict sites, with the remainder achievable through the adoption of extra mitigation measures to repower some of the existing wind farms.
• Moderate Conflict Zones: These areas offer a strategic reserve for future expansion, with opportunities for biodiversity net gain investment co-benefits through nature-inclusive project development as technology and policy evolve.
• Grid Expansion: Smart siting data can guide grid upgrades, focusing investment in regions with high renewable potential and low biodiversity and social conflict, supporting efficient energy delivery and minimising unnecessary impacts.
• Social Inclusion: Social value mapping and introduction of participatory community engagement methods highlight the importance of taking into account aesthetic values, listening to communities, ensuring projects reflect people’s priorities and deliver lasting benefits.

The Guide’s evidence-based approach combines technical mapping of wind and solar potential with biodiversity and social value filters, integrating stakeholder input throughout. It offers actionable recommendations for improving data access, stakeholder engagement, and adaptive management, and aligns closely with the EU’s call for science-based spatial planning and community benefit-sharing while offering a holistic approach to land-use planning.

“As Portugal spearheads Europe’s renewable energy ambitions, it can also be a leader in showing that climate ambition and nature protection can go hand in hand. The Smart Siting Guide complements existing work in the country by demonstrating how rigorous science, transparent mapping, and genuine engagement can accelerate renewables while safeguarding what matters most. This Guide sets a precedent for nature-positive energy development across Europe to be used and replicated by various stakeholders.”

Elif Gündüzyeli, Renewable Energy Program Director, Europe, The Nature Conservancy

“Portugal stands at a crossroads on the path to reducing the use of fossil fuels. On the one hand, it requires major decarbonisation efforts, in which electrification is an essential component that must be ensured through renewable sources. This, in turn, requires investment, including in centralised renewable energy production projects which, in another hand, must not undermine territorial cohesion, public acceptance, or the need to restore nature.

In Portugal, several large-scale solar power plants have sparked strong opposition and popular mobilisation in many respects, as a result of the selection of areas with significant environmental and social impacts. This study represents a very important contribution to overcoming these conflicts by reconciling renewable electricity generation with respect for landscape, biodiversity, and local communities, and by setting out guidelines and regulatory framework to achieve a desirable balance.”

Francisco Ferreira, President, ZERO - Association for the Sustainability of the Earth System