In a statement, Zero pointed out that Portuguese power utility EDP wants to extend Sines’ environmental license until 2029. “Two of the plant’s four groups should have been decommissioned in 2021", the association said, which wants to see Portugal “free of coal sooner” than 2030, the date set by the government for the closure of Sines.


The closure of the plants does not imply the state has to give “any compensation to the operators”, highlights Zero, pointing out that the Sines operation contracts ended in 2017 and that in Pego they end in 2021.


“There is also the moral duty of companies not to contribute to the worsening of the climate crisis,” the association said.


Zero points out that the Sines power station emitted 7.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and that of Pego emitted 2.8 million tonnes.


“The investments for the production of electricity from renewable energy sources, as demonstrated by the recent auction of energy production facilities, will ensure a progressively significant proportion of electricity generation”, cheaper for consumers and without direct emissions of gases, Zero said.


The association said that the closure of Sines and Pego “has no significant impact on supply security”, based on the most recent report of the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology.


With the closure of the plants, around 650 workers will be affected in the two plants and in the coal port, but in sectors such as energy obtained from solar energy “at least 20,000 jobs are expected to be created in the next 10 years in the country”.