Giant Solar Farms Trigger Beira Baixa Showdown over Nature and Tourism

Sun-drenched plains between Castelo Branco and the Spanish border have suddenly become Portugal’s newest battleground over the green transition. Local councils welcome clean electricity, yet they warn that gigantic photovoltaic plants, power-line corridors and thousands of steel structures could erase the very landscapes that make the interior worth saving.

Beira Baixa at the centre of a race for renewable gigawatts

Centuries of low-intensity farming left this corner of the country with wide cork-oak montados, dry pastures and granite villages that attract hikers, bird-watchers and heritage tourists. The same openness now seduces international investors who see room for utility-scale solar fields capable of lighting Lisbon twice over. Since 2023, developers backed by global capital have filed more than a dozen licence requests in the district; two of them, Beira and Sophia, dwarf everything built so far in mainland Portugal.

Beira and Sophia: what the promoters want to build

In Monforte da Beira, Malpica do Tejo and neighbouring parishes, the Beira project foresees 266 MW of panels spread across 524 ha, tied to a new 33 km 220 kV overhead line. Sixty kilometres to the north-east, Sophia would blanket uneven terrain shared by Fundão, Penamacor and Idanha-a-Nova with 867 MWp of modules, an annual output of 1 271 GWh and a €590 M price tag. Lightsource bp leads both ventures and says they could supply the equivalent of 370 000 homes while supporting national climate targets.

Local authorities draw a line in the sand

Idanha-a-Nova’s council, internationally lauded for its UNESCO Naturtejo Geopark, the Tejo-Tajo Biosphere Reserve and status as Portugal’s first bioregion, argues that covering hundreds of hectares with glass and aluminium would sterilise soils, uproot cork oaks and fragment habitats used by black vultures, Bonelli’s eagles and steppe birds. The municipality’s statement calls the change “irreversible” and accuses promoters of ignoring regional plans that protect agricultural mosaics and cork woodlands.

Environmental science versus project paperwork

Independent ecologists reviewing draft impact studies claim Beira would erase seven priority habitats and more than 140 bird species’ feeding grounds, while Sophia’s southern parcels overlap with Gardunha’s protected landscape and the UNESCO geopark’s geosites. NGOs Quercus and ZERO say the dossiers underplay soil sealing, heat-island effects and the likelihood of a 5 °C micro-climate rise next to villages already suffering August highs above 40 °C.

The high-voltage question nobody advertised

Even if panels stay below ridge lines, their electricity must travel. Grid connection plans show dozens of lattice pylons marching across the Tejo International Natural Park and heritage hamlets such as Monsanto. Energy planners argue the network needs reinforcement anyway, but councils counter that burying cables or siting plants nearer substations would reduce visual scars and bird collisions. Regulators hint that underground lines could be mandatory around Natura 2000 sites, although that would swell budgets by at least 30 %.

Agri-photovoltaics and brownfield sites as compromise routes

In an effort to avoid outright vetoes, researchers from Porto’s BIOPOLIS-CIBIO and local irrigation cooperatives tout floating arrays on reservoirs, dual-use vineyards with elevated trackers and panel rooftops on industrial estates. One pilot in Idanha-a-Nova already shades irrigation canals, cutting evaporation and farmers’ energy bills by 45 %. The concept resonates with mayors who want revenue without sacrificing olive groves, sheep pastures and geotourism trails.

What happens next — and why it matters beyond Castelo Branco

The Portuguese Environment Agency will issue binding opinions on both megaprojects in the first half of 2026. A negative ruling could push developers to fragment sites into smaller, dispersed parks or pivot to the brownfields championed in Brussels’ new Nature Restoration Law. Whatever decision emerges, it will set a precedent for how Portugal balances rapid decarbonisation with rural heritage, biodiversity and regional cohesion. For residents of Beira Baixa, the verdict will shape whether the sun remains a shared resource or becomes a fenced-off commodity.