Portuguese electric utility company EDP announced the closure of its Sines coal power plant, bringing the country’s planned shutdown of coal-fired power plants down by two years, from 2023 to 2021. The company also plans to close another plant and convert a unit in Spain.
The move is part of “EDP Group’s decarbonization strategy.” They decided the strategy based on a situation where energy production increasingly depends on renewable sources. As renewables reduce in cost and CO2 pollution permits rise in price on the EU carbon market, the prospects for the feasibility of coal plants drop considerably.
Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, EDP’s acting executive president, said, “Last year, we saw an inevitable reduction in the prospects for the profitability of coal power plants, with the rising costs of CO2 emissions and more competitive prices for natural gas. The decision to anticipate the closure of coal power plants in the Iberian Peninsula is thus a natural consequence of this energy transition process, in line with European carbon neutral targets and with the political will to anticipate these deadlines.”
The decision was rejoiced by climate activists fighting for a quick phase-out of coal power, which is the most polluting fossil fuel.
Kathrin Gutmann, the Europe Beyond Coal Campaign’s director, said, “Portugal had already accelerated its coal phase-coal from 2030 to 2023. The fact that it is being brought forward yet again to 2021 shows just how fast a country can clean up its energy system when it commits to clean energy and climate action.”
Earlier this year, Austria and Sweden closed its coal plants early, and now Portugal will be the third EU country to do the same. However, Belgium is ahead of the game as it became the first EU country to end coal back in 2016. “Governments that have yet to plan a speedy coal exit are losing precious time to put in place ambitious coal exit plans that reflect market and policy realities,” Gutmann warned.
Portugal’s energy transition has continued to accelerate since then. In 2026, Heineken’s Vialonga brewery north of Lisbon activated a 6 MW heat pump and is deploying a 100 MWh brick battery to cut its thermal carbon emissions in half, while the country logged 462 hours of negative electricity prices in the first half of the year.
According to Europe Beyond Coal, seven more EU countries plan to end coal by 2025, including:
- France by 2022
- Portugal 2023
- Slovakia by 2023
- The UK by 2024
- Italy by 2025
- Ireland by 2025
