Abreu advises Iberdrola on Tâmega €1.5B energy project
Abreu Advogados has advised Iberdrola on the development of the Tâmega Electro-Producer System (SET), a wind-hydro hybridization project in northern Portugal representing an investment of approximately €1.5 billion. The project combines hydroelectric generation, wind energy and storage within a single hybrid infrastructure, enabling a shared grid connection that reduces costs and minimises environmental impact.
Known as the “Tâmega Gigabattery”, the SET has 1,158 MW of installed capacity — including around 900 MW of pumped-storage capacity — and approximately 40 GWh of storage capacity, with the ability to generate around 1,766 GWh per year. The Tâmega wind farms, located in the vicinity of the SET, will have an installed capacity of 274 MW, sufficient to supply clean energy to 400,000 households. The wind component comprises 38 turbines of 7.2 MW each — described as the largest onshore wind turbines currently available on the global market — and represents an investment of approximately €350 million, with an estimated annual generation of 601 GWh.
Together, the facilities are expected to avoid around 1.2 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year. The project also increases Portugal’s pumped-storage capacity by around 30% and has contributed to the closure of the country’s last coal-fired power plants.
Legal advisory team
Abreu Advogados’ advisory team was led by Manuel Andrade Neves (pictured), partner and coordinator of the Public & Environment Law practice area, with the involvement of partner Tiago Corrêa do Amaral, who has more than 15 years of experience advising on energy sector projects. A multidisciplinary team of more than 30 lawyers was mobilised across regulatory, tax, corporate, real estate, structured finance and litigation practice areas.
The firm’s work on the SET covered all critical phases of the project, from preparing the bid for the concession tender in 2008 and engaging with public authorities through to monitoring contractual performance and implementing the social action plan. The team also assisted with around 7,500 expropriation proceedings required for the acquisition of approximately 3,100 plots of land, essential to the construction of associated infrastructure including power lines. For the wind hybridization component, the law firm was involved from the outset in defining the legal strategy within a then-nascent regulatory framework, and subsequently in the complex environmental licensing process.
