The Municipality of Sousel will open the public discussion of the 1st amendment of the 1st revision of the Municipal Master Plan, a procedure approved unanimously by the municipal executive at the meeting of August 26 and formalized through a notice published in the Official Gazette on September 2. The amendment to the PDM is related to the installation in the municipality of an industrial biomethane production unit, with an estimated investment of 50 million euros.
The public participation period will last 30 working days, during which interested parties may consult the proposal and submit complaints, observations or suggestions. The municipal documentation identifies an area of 7,610 square meters, west of Sousel and adjacent to EM372, classified for space for exploration of energy and geological resources, whose exclusion from the National Agricultural Reserve is justified by the need to allow the installation of the industrial unit.
The project is promoted by RegaAlentejo, Lda., and has already undergone environmental public consultation between January and February 2026, under the Environmental Impact Assessment and Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control regimes. According to Councilor António Dâmaso, the unit should create 20 direct jobs and, if the PDM process proceeds within the planned timelines, construction may begin in early 2027.
The unit will use livestock effluents from cattle, pigs, sheep, and horses as raw material, which will undergo an anaerobic digestion process to produce biogas and subsequently biomethane. The renewable gas produced will be injected into the national gas transmission network, and the process will also produce sanitized digestate intended for use as fertilizer material.
