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Portuguese bike manufacturer Carbon Team is highlighted by Bloomberg with the company producing high end, super light carbon fiber frames for “Made in Europe” bikes. Bloomberg reports that bicycle sales in Europe jumped more than 10% in 2020, with retailers turning to Asia to meet demand. Under the helm of Emre Ozgunes, Portuguese company Carbon Team is expected to gain an edge over producers in Asia whose transport costs have been rising, with delivery times sometimes stretching to more than a year. With a niche market of carbon-fiber frames and faster delivery times, the company is supplying growing demand in a global context facing supply bottlenecks. According to Maeva Cousin, a senior economist at Bloomberg Economics, the “production of some goods like motorcycles, bicycles or jewelry, points to some small pockets of manufacturing returning to Europe.” The “Made in Europe” brand is in demand and competition is not about price anymore. In 2019, Portugal unseated Italy to become Europe’s biggest bicycle manufacturer. The industry employs about 10,000 people in Portugal and exports have grown more than 30% in each of the past two years, according to Portuguese bike association ABIMOTA. In 2019, Carbon Team built an €8 million factory in Campia, north of Lisbon, and the company is now investing a further €5 million to expand. Emre Ozgunes expects to almost triple staff this year as production is set to jump from 3,500 frames to 18,000 frames in 2024. Sales from Carbon Team are expected to increase two-fold to reach €10 million. The Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry predicts that, by 2030, up to 20% of carbon frames sold in the region could be manufactured in Europe. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/portuguese-bike-manufacturer-carbon-team-set-to-dethrone-asia #CarbonTeam #MadeinEuropebikes #BloombergEconomics #Bloomberg #MadeinEuropebrand #ABIMOTA #ConfederationoftheEuropeanBicycleIndustry #madeinportugal #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

Portugal is investing EUR 3.4 million in a new Maritime Control Centre (CMAR), out of which EUR 2.5 million comes from the MAR 2020 program. The new Control Centre will improve the surveillance of the sea under Portugal’s responsibility. The Secretary of State for the Sea, José Maria Costa, just signed the contract agreement for the design and construction of the Control Centre. With this new Centre, Portugal will have the response capacity required for the surveillance and monitoring of navigation, while also providing capacity building for the Portuguese flag fleet. The EU’s Integrated Maritime Policy comes with a set of challenges linked to Portugal’s accountability as a coastal state. With this new development, Portugal will have a stand-by response capacity and will have a higher service standard for both ships and security. The Control Centre will strengthen maritime surveillance as well as pollution prevention, including in marine protected areas. Portugal’s maritime area requires the monitoring of over 80,000 large vessels, a number of which carry dangerous goods. Over 15,000 vessels carrying hazardous cargo call at Portuguese ports. Portugal’s new Maritime Control Centre will be operational in August 2023 and will integrate the Maritime Traffic Control Centre, the Fisheries Monitoring Centre as well as control and surveillance activities. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/portugal-invests-eur-3-4-million-in-a-new-maritime-control-centre #maritimecontrolcentre #MAR2020 #maritimesurveillance #maritimesurveillanceportugal #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

At the WEF 2023 Annual Meeting, an agenda article by Maarten Wetselaar described 7 reasons why Portugal and Spain are about to become a Green Hydrogen Powerhouse. The WEF agenda article states that Portuguese and Spanish green hydrogen is not only highly cost-effective, but it is also a flexible fuel that can meet the EU energy needs. Make no mistake, Europe needs clean hydrogen and the current energy crisis can be a turning point in the fight against climate change. While solar panels and wind turbines contribute to a fifth of the energy consumed, much more energy needs to be converted to meet the EU electricity needs. A number of sectors still rely heavily on fossil fuels, and these include inland freight, shipping, aviation and heavy industry to name a few. This is why green hydrogen is seen as an essential source of energy and it has the added advantage of being carbon neutral. It can be carried across borders via pipelines, as well as be compressed or liquefied. The report states that, while it can be used in air and sea transport, it can also be converted into biofuels like biodiesel and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), into e-ammonia and e-methanol, or even be burned directly as a fuel for heavy industry. Since green hydrogen is a highly flexible fuel, the UNFCCC states that it can meet up to 20% of global energy demand by 2050, that is about the same share of energy that is used by the current electrical system. Furthermore, Germany has launched the world’s first network of hydrogen-powered trains and Sweden is building its first hydrogen-based steel plant. Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce is working on a hydrogen-fueled jet engine. According to the WEF agenda article, this leads to seven reasons why Portugal and Spain are about to become a Green Hydrogen Powerhouse. These are first, the potential through solar, wind, biomass, and hydropower; and second, this will lead to a fully-flexible electricity grid. The other reasons named are the geographic advantages, the potential for producing biomethane in rural areas, the strong demand on the Iberian peninsula that meets production costs, the already existing infrastructure with port facilities added to a natural gas pipeline network; and last but not least, the fact that both Portugal and Spain are part of the EU with easy market access. The WEF report underlines the fact that Portuguese and Spanish green hydrogen can be produced at a quarter of the cost of traditional grey hydrogen with the advantage of also being clean energy. Therefore, it is to be expected that both Portugal and Spain will become green hydrogen giants with massive investments pouring into the green hydrogen sector, thus propelling both countries as an energy powerhouse for the EU. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/portugal-recognized-as-a-a-green-hydrogen-powerhouse-by-the-wef #Portugalgreenhydrogen #WEF2023 #RollsRoyce #greenhydrogeninvestments #greenhydrogenportugal #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

EUR 800 million will be invested by Iberdrola and Prosolia Energy to build Europe’s largest solar power plant in Portugal. The plant of 1.2 GW will be built in the Alentejo region in southern Portugal. The solar power plant will be located in Santiago de Cacém, close to the port of Sines that is a hub for southern Europe. The plant, that will be operational in 2025, will produce clean and cheap energy for 430,000 households. This new development will reduce the consumption of gas by 370 million cubic meters. The solar park will comprise 700,000 photovoltaic modules and will be surrounded by a protective belt of trees. This mega project follows the other pharaonic project on the Tâmega river, a EUR 1.5 billion complex that was described by The New York Times as being Portugal’s Hydro Future. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/eur-800-m-investment-in-europe-s-largest-solar-power-plant-to-be-built-in-portugal #largestsolarpowerplantEurope #Iberdrola #ProsoliaEnergy #solarenergyportugal #greenportugal #renewableenergyportugal #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

Portugal’s natural gas utility company Dourogás will supply Green Hydrogen produced by Fusion Fuel Green Public Limited Company (NASDAQ: HTOO). This agreement is a first-of-its-kind and will include Green Hydrogen on Portugal’s grid. Dourogás, that is the market leader for the Natural Gas for Vehicles (NGV) sector, will build the hydrogen plant that will be operated by Fusion Fuel. The Dourogás Group recently won the Green Energy Award of Visão magazine. Fusion Fuel’s Green Hydrogen plant, that is based in Évora in southern Portugal, will produce around 40 tons of Green Hydrogen yearly. Fusion Fuel has developed a modular, integrated solar-to-hydrogen generator. The generator is powered by a small Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzer that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, before the hydrogen protons pass through the membrane to form H2 gas. This new agreement with Fusion Fuel follows major developments in Portugal’s Green Hydrogen sector. These include massive investments in the port of Sines, that is Portugal’s Hydrogen Valley and that is set to become a major energy contributor for EU countries. With the Iberian Hydrogen underwater pipeline at a cost of EUR 2.5 billion that was announced by the Prime Ministers of Spain, Portugal and France, Green Hydrogen will be exported to EU countries by 2030. Developments in the sector also include an investment of EUR 1 billion by NeoGreen Portugal in a Green Hydrogen production plant in Sines and a €30 million grant for developing a Green Hydrogen Hub in Sines via the GreenH2Atlantic project, that are part of a pipeline of investment projects that total EUR 20 billion by 2030. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/portugal-s-dourogás-will-supply-green-hydrogen-with-fusion-fuel #Dourogás #greenhydrogenportugal #FusionFuel #naturalgasforvehicles #Visãomagazine #Portugalhydrogenvalley #NeoGreenPortugal #GreenH2Atlanticproject #hydrogenprojectsportugal #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews #Sineshydrogen

Portugal’s gold reserves are worth EUR 20,985 billion and the country ranks 16th globally in the world’s largest gold reserves. According to a new report from MoneyLab, Portugal’s gold reserves reached a new historical high over nine months due to the weakening of the US Dollar and to the strong demand for safe assets. Last week, the precious metal reached USD 1.939 the ounce and the strong appreciation of the price of gold is expected to accelerate. Data from Banco de Portugal shows that the value of gold appreciated by 6% between the end of 2021 when the reserves were worth EUR 19,796 billion and the end of 2022 when they were worth EUR 20,985 billion. Furthermore, analysts from the Bank of America are forecasting that the price of gold will reach U$ 2.000 an ounce in the coming months. The countries with the largest gold reserves in tons are the US with 8,133 tons, Germany with 3,359 tons, Italy with 2,452 tons and France with 2,436 tons, as at the end of December 2021. According to the World Gold Council, Portugal holds 382,6 tons of gold. The MoneyLab report states that Portugal’s gold reserves remain unchanged since the end of 2019, since the agreement between the European central banks prevents the sale of gold. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/portugal-s-gold-reserves-worth-eur-20-985-billion #Portugalgoldreserves #MoneyLab #BancodePortugal #WorldGoldCouncil #goldreservesportugal #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

Portugal’s Government is calling upon Portuguese emigrants to return to Portugal. Under the Return Program (Regressar), the Government is offering tax benefits to families that are willing to come back and work in Portugal. Portugal’s Secretary of State, who is promoting the Regressar program, stated to Lusa that the country has already received around 15.500 applications since 2019. The Portuguese diaspora consists of a pool of talents and all countries have aggressive programs to try to attract such talents, which is the reason why Portugal needs to go the further mile. While Portuguese emigrants left the country for economic reasons, Portugal now has a low unemployment rate as well as economic growth, which is a factor that holds a number of opportunities. According to SIC, around 60,000 people left Portugal in 2021. Since the start of the Regressar program in 2019, Portugal received around 15.500 applications from the diaspora, most of whom left the country between 2011 and 2015 and 70% of these were approved. Most applications came from Switzerland, France and the UK and it is to be noted that around 40% of applicants have received higher education. The Regressar program includes support for job search, recognition of qualifications as well as language classes. Portugal has a demographic problem, and the Government is trying to reverse this cycle by making sure that they will be able to retain the youth in the country with a number of measures that include better salaries and free child-care. And the call to the Portuguese diaspora is loud and clear: Return to Portugal. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/return-to-portugal #ReturntoPortugal #Regressar #Portuguesediaspora #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

Portugal Business News Testimonial from Centro da Biomassa para a Energia - CBE Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/thank-you-note-from-centro-da-biomassa-para-a-energia-cbe #CentrodaBiomassaparaaEnergiaCBE #BioRural #UniversityofCoimbra #PortugalBusinessNews #portugalbusinessesnews #portugalnews #biosolutionsportugal #HorizonEurope #ResearchImpactEU

"Thank you" note from BioRural Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/thank-you-note-from-biorural #BioRural #UniversityofCoimbra #CBECentrodaBiomassaparaaEnergia #PortugalBusinessNews #portugalbusinessesnews #portugalnews

Wave power is now contributing to power Portugal with the deployment of the HiWave-5 Project developed by CorPower Ocean in Viana do Castelo. Portugal has 15.5 GW of harvestable wave energy according to Swedish wave energy developer CorPower Ocean. The Portugal Country Manager of CorPower Ocean, Miguel Silva, explained that the innovative wave energy technology has huge potential to support Portugal’s future clean energy mix as a highly consistent and complementary power partner with offshore wind and solar energy. The company has partnered with EVOLVE - Economic Value of Ocean Energy, to derive benefits from ocean energy in a future low-carbon environment. The integration of wave and tidal energy in Portugal is in line with Europe’s future low carbon energy system and the benefits include the impact on electricity prices and on carbon emissions. CorPower Ocean developed economic dispatch models for Portugal, Great Britain and Ireland. Results have shown that increases in ocean energy reduce the overall system dispatch costs, including the cost of delivered fuel. The rigorous two-year initiative was led by Aquatera Ltd with support from WavEC - Offshore Renewables, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and the University of Edinburgh, along with wave and tidal energy developers CorPower Ocean and Orbital Marine Power Ltd. The EVOLVE Project has received support under the framework of the OCEANERA-NET COFUND project of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, with funding also provided by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - FCT. The pan-European EVOLVE project has provided strong evidence supporting the acceleration of ocean energy in Europe’s future energy system. It was found that a more diverse mix of renewables, including ocean energy, results in a more consistent renewable production profile which is better able to meet hourly electricity demands, that is the key for reaching future international net zero targets. According to EVOLVE Technical Manager, Dr Shona Pennock, “There has been much commentary in recent years about the potential benefits of adding wave and tidal energy to the broader energy system, but this has been hampered by limited quantifiable studies. Following extensive work over a number of years, we can now draw clear conclusions from firm evidence.” Oliver Wragg, Commercial Director at Orbital Marine Power explained that: “We know that the tides rise and fall like clockwork and can be predicted hundreds of years into the future. With the results of the EVOLVE project, we now also have clear projections for how the addition of predictable stable power generation from Europe’s fantastic tidal stream resource can help to cost effectively reach our net zero ambitions.” Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/wave-power-in-portugal #WavePowerPortugal #HiWave5 #CorPowerOcean #EVOLVEEconomicValueofOceanEnergy #AquateraLtd #WavECOffshoreRenewables #RISEResearchInstitutesofSweden #UniversityofEdinburgh #OrbitalMarinePowerLtd #EVOLVEProject #OCEANERANETCOFUND #Horizon2020 #FundaçãoparaaCiênciaeaTecnologiaFCT #Portugalrenewableenergies #greenportugal #waveenergyportugal #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews

Portugal Business News/AICEP Portugal Global newsletter - AICEP Portugal Global is the Trade and Investment body of the Government of Portugal. According to Dopinger, the portugalglobal.pt website receives 550,000 searches per month. AICEP is a reputable business-oriented agency, with specialized professionals in Portugal and a global network in over 50 countries. AICEP’s mission is to increase Portugal’s competitiveness and reputation, by fostering investment and by promoting the internationalization of Portuguese companies. #portugalbusinessnews #portugalbusinessesnews #portugalbusinessnewsAICEP #AICEP #websitevisits #pagevisits #numberofvisitors #portugalnews

Portugal’s renewable energy supplied 97% of electricity consumption on January 16th when the daily share of wind energy produced reached an all-time high with 106.7 GWh, according to REN that operates the country’s energy network. Reuters reported that Portugal’s renewable energy sector generally accounts for 83% of its total installed capacity, with the share of wind energy being 56%. Portugal’s Prime Minister just announced that the country aims at developing its offshore wind capacity to reach 10 GW by 2030. The country will launch its first offshore wind auction by the end of this year, a project that will lead to wind farms being installed off the country’s Atlantic coast. Portugal is developing ambitious projects in the renewable energy sector, such as the EUR 1.5 billion hydro-electric plant nearing completion in Ribeira de Pena in northern Portugal, with major renewable energy operator Iberdrola now planning a large wind farm in the same region. Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/portugal-s-wind-energy-projects #WindEnergyProjectsPortugal #renewableenergyportugal #windenergyportugal #REN #Reuters #offshorewindportugal #Iberdrola #windfarmsportugal #greenportugal #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews