Portugal’s energy transition is no longer being driven solely by megaprojects or national targets—it is increasingly shaped by how fast clean energy can be deployed where it already makes economic sense. As the country pushes toward its goal of 80% renewable electricity generation by 2026, attention is turning to a quieter but critical question: how to unlock solar capacity at scale without adding complexity to the grid.
That shift is placing commercial and industrial rooftops at the center of Portugal’s next renewable phase—and making data and AI essential tools in the process.
Recent figures underline this momentum. According to Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN), wind farms generated 110.4 GWh in a single day in November 2024, covering 86% of Portugal’s total electricity consumption. At the same time, solar energy is gaining ground fast. In June 2025, solar power surpassed wind generation for the first time, with cumulative production reaching 2,865 GWh, or 10.9% of total renewable electricity output.
Yet despite these gains, Portugal’s solar story is still in its early chapters.
The untapped potential of commercial rooftops
While utility-scale renewables have driven much of the progress so far, analysts point to commercial and industrial (C&I) rooftops as one of Portugal’s largest remaining clean-energy opportunities. The national solar market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of over 6.5% between 2024 and 2029, and rooftop solar offers a fast, cost-effective way to expand capacity without the long timelines or capital intensity of large solar parks.
Identifying and qualifying suitable rooftops at scale, however, remains a challenge. This is where a newly announced partnership between SparkWave Energy and GeoAI startup Planno comes into play.
Scaling renewable deployment through data and AI
SparkWave Energy, one of Portugal’s fastest-growing solar developers and backed by Octopus Energy Generation, is currently rolling out a nationwide portfolio of C&I solar projects, targeting substantial installed capacity by 2027.
By integrating Planno’s GeoAI platform, SparkWave aims to accelerate rooftop discovery, strengthen its development pipeline, and optimize site selection at a time when Portugal’s distributed generation market is expected to add more than 500 MW annually.
“Portugal is becoming a global example of fast, smart renewable-energy adoption,” said Tiago Andrade e Sousa, CEO of SparkWave Energy. “With Planno’s technology, we can identify and qualify high-potential rooftops in a fraction of the time, enabling a new phase of growth.”
Planno’s geospatial analysis suggests that Portugal hosts 79,000 C&I rooftops with an estimated 15.4 GW of untapped solar capacity, of which only 15% has been developed so far. By applying AI to automate rooftop lead generation and pre-qualification, the company is helping turn latent potential into actionable projects.
As Portugal pushes toward its 2026 targets, partnerships like this illustrate how data-driven technologies are becoming essential infrastructure for the energy transition.
