Over the past few weeks I have written about three energy projects in Portugal. Read individually they might look like three separate ideas. They are not. They are three entry points into the same argument, and I want to set out how they fit together, because the relationship between them is more interesting than any one of them alone.
The argument underneath all three
It runs roughly like this.
Europe has built renewable generation faster than it has built the infrastructure to use it. That is now the binding constraint. Grid connections are scarce, transmission is congested, and there are hours when clean electricity is produced and then wasted because the system cannot absorb it. Solving that problem, rather than simply adding more panels, is where the durable value in this sector now sits.
Portugal is an unusually good place to solve it. An exceptional solar resource, a regulatory authority in DGEG that has chosen to remove friction rather than add it, a permitting framework built to accelerate rather than delay, a grid investment programme that gained real urgency after the Iberian blackout, and integration with the wider Spanish market through cross-border interconnection.
That is the thesis. Each of the three projects is a different way of expressing it.
Santa Marta: position and patience
Santa Marta is the origin story. A utility-scale solar asset in the Algarve, under development since 2019, sitting adjacent to the Tavira 400kV transmission corridor and close to the Portugal to Spain interconnection.
What it expresses is the value of location and endurance. The grid position was chosen years before grid access became the scarce commodity everyone now talks about. The project has been carried through the long, unglamorous middle that most investors never see.
I wrote about it in The Patience Behind a Solar Project, and the project page has more.
Solar45: the funding gap
Solar45 addresses the stage where projects actually stall. Not construction, which is well funded, but the years between securing land and reaching Ready-to-Build, which most institutional capital will not finance and most developers cannot fund alone.
What it expresses is that the difficult work is the valuable work. Taking raw sites through permitting, environmental process and grid connection produces something the market wants badly and cannot easily make for itself. Solar45 continues development on the Santa Marta site, which is why the two pieces read naturally together.
I wrote about it in The Gap Nobody Funds, and the project page has more.
Baloiço: generation plus storage
Baloiço takes solar and battery storage together across Portugal, treating storage as integral rather than as an addition.
What it expresses is that the volatility damaging simple generation assets is the commercial engine of a storage asset, and that combining the two on one site under one grid connection produces something worth more than either alone. It also makes the governance point sharply: identical hardware produces very different outcomes depending on how it is connected, cycled and contracted.
I wrote about it in One Asset, Several Jobs, and the project page has more.
Why the three belong in one conversation
Seen together, they describe a single value chain rather than three unrelated propositions.
A site is identified and positioned for grid access. It is carried through the long development process until it is ready to build. Storage is integrated so the finished asset can respond to the market rather than be dictated to by it. Each stage creates value the next one builds on.
That is also why I would resist the idea that one of them is simply better than the others. They occupy different points on the same curve, with different risk and different time horizons attached. Which of them, if any, makes sense for a given investor depends entirely on what the rest of their position looks like, how much illiquidity they can carry, and what they are actually trying to achieve.
The discipline that applies to all of it
I want to end where I usually do, because it matters more than any thesis.
A sound market does not make every opportunity in it sound. The questions I ask about any of these are the ones I would ask of any private markets allocation. Who is running it and what have they actually delivered before. What happens if permitting stalls or grid timelines move. How does an investor exit, and what has to be true for that exit to be available. How does the position sit against everything else someone owns.
All three are introduced by Univere Investments for qualified professional investors. None of them is a retail product, none of them should be assessed from an article, and the real conversation begins with documentation and proper due diligence.
If the thesis interests you and you would like to think through whether any of it fits your circumstances, I am always glad to begin with a straightforward conversation. You can find more about how I work at Stuart McKenzie Consultancy.
The strategies referenced are intended for qualified professional investors and are not offers or invitations to invest. Nothing here is investment, legal or tax advice. Please take appropriate professional advice before making any decision.
