Portugal's Council of Ministers, signed by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro on 19 March 2026 and published on 13 April, formally approved the National Data Centre Plan (Plano Nacional de Centros de Dados, PNCD) along with its 2026-2027 Action Plan.

The legislation is structured across four pillars, and each addresses a specific category of friction that has historically slowed Portuguese data centre development

The first pillar, regulation and governance, establishes AICEP, the Portuguese investment and trade agency, as the single point of contact for all data centre investors, with a formal mandate to actively manage the project portfolio and coordinate between the multiple public bodies that previously created bottlenecks independently of one another. It also introduces maximum decision timelines for licensing.

The second pillar, energy and infrastructure, commits to identifying and preparing pre-zoned land with planning already cleared, basic site infrastructure in place, and grid connections pre-coordinated with REN, the national transmission operator. An existing mechanism under Decree-Law 80/2023 already allows unused grid connection capacity previously allocated to other facilities to be reallocated to new high-demand projects, with data centres recognised as Projects of National Interest granted precedence in that process. The PNCD builds on this, embedding grid coordination into the pre-zoning process.

The third pillar, demand and market, establishes a mechanism for direct state participation, through the Portuguese Development Bank, in projects of strategic national significance. This is a potential co-investment structure that meaningfully de-risks large-scale commitments for private capital. It also commits to creating a dedicated investor portal through AICEP, providing structured information on land availability, energy capacity, regulatory timelines and fiscal conditions, removing the information asymmetry that has historically disadvantaged first-time entrants to the market.

The fourth pillar, territory and ecosystem, requires projects to embed tangible community benefits and define reversibility mechanisms for land and infrastructure at end of life.

Critically, 2026 and 2027 are identified as the decisive window, with major international hyperscale operators making their European infrastructure decisions now. Microsoft has already committed an €8.6 billion investment at Sines, in collaboration with Start Campus, deploying more than 12,000 next-generation Nvidia GPUs, with operations beginning in early 2026. A study by Copenhagen Economics estimates that data centre development could contribute up to €26 billion to Portuguese GDP between 2025 and 2030, supporting up to 50,000 jobs annually.

From a project management perspective, the significance of this legislation is in the detail of what it removes. Pre-zoned land means site selection can move from feasibility to commitment without waiting for planning outcomes that were previously uncertain and slow. A single investor contact point means the coordination burden that typically falls on the developer's programme team is partially absorbed by a government structure with a mandate to make projects happen. Maximum licensing timelines mean programme schedules can be built with a degree of confidence that was previously unavailable.

Grid connection timelines, construction cost management, contractor capacity, and the sequencing of technical due diligence remain material challenges on any large infrastructure programme. But the legislative framework now aligns with the pace at which serious capital wants to move, and that alignment matters enormously when you are structuring a development programme across acquisition, planning, construction and operations.

Credits: Client; Author: Client;

Pictured above left to right: Yehonatan Gourvitch, CEO Maven Investment Management; Miguel Albuquerque Head of Development, Maven Investment Management

At Maven Investment Management, we manage real estate acquisitions, projects and assets across Portugal, with active experience across the infrastructure and development sectors shaping the market today. From a project management perspective, the PNCD does not completely eliminate complexity. The variables that remain, grid connection sequencing, construction cost management, contractor capacity, technical due diligence, are the ones that competent programme management can control. The variables that the plan removes are precisely the ones that were outside any individual developer's ability to manage, and that were making Portugal a harder market to commit to.

The legislation also explicitly maps professional services, including engineering, legal, project management and consulting, as part of the domestic value chain it intends to develop around the sector. For a firm like Maven, with legal, acquisition and project management capability under one roof, we are operating directly in that space and this plan removes the friction we often have to work around.