A consortium of Portuguese energy companies announced plans to invest close to $300 million on wind energy development in the country.

The consortium, Ventinveste, said it was teaming up with development company Ferrostaal to spend $296 million to build four wind farms with a combined 171.6 megawatts of power for the Portuguese grid.

The wind farms will consist of a total 84 turbines. Construction is set to begin in late 2014 and the facilities should be connected to the nation's energy grid by the middle of 2016, the group said Thursday.

Members of the European Union are obligated to get 20 percent of their energy needs met by renewable energy resources by 2020.

The EU's statistical office, Eurostat, said in May that CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels declined for every member state between 2012 and 2013 except for Portugal, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, France and Poland.