The self-consumption of energy has increasingly aroused the interest of the Portuguese. And at a time when electricity and gas prices have skyrocketed as a result of the war in Ukraine, the demand for these types of solutions has more than doubled this year. Until July, the installed capacity of self-consumption generating units was 695 megawatts (MW), an increase of 103% compared to the same period of the previous year, according to data from the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology (DGEG).
The strong growth is not only due to demand from private individuals, but also from the business community. As Pedro Amaral Jorge explained to Dinheiro Vivo, the evolution is the result of “the combination of several factors that have contributed to making the investment in this technology attractive to the electricity consumer”. One of the factors pointed out by the president of the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association (APREN) was the increase in support for the purchase of photovoltaic panels that are part of the Environmental Fund, thanks to the additional funding of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR ), which provided for reimbursement of up to 85%. A support aimed precisely at accelerating the energy transition by making citizens aware of their active role in the decentralization of energy, recalls Nelson Lage, President of ADENE – Agência para a Energia.
The economic component also weighed heavily in the decision on who invests and contributed to the strong acceleration. Self-consumption is a cost-effective solution, especially for consumers who are more exposed to variations in the wholesale electricity market, given the increase in electricity prices due to the rising trend in the price of natural gas and also CO2 allowances. of APREN to it. For these reasons, sectors such as industry and services have looked to self-consumption “as a natural solution that allows for some predictability of electricity costs,” he explained.
Photovoltaic solutions still make up the lion’s share, accounting for more than 95% of total decentralized production. This is followed by biomass and wind, which represent a total of less than 5% and fall off from year to year.
The annual savings achieved with these solutions vary from case to case, depending on the number of solar panels installed and the energy consumption of each family or business. But they can vary between 95 and 500 euros, with two to three modules. The same goes for the return on investment. According to Deco simulations, this can vary from 5 to 18 years, depending on the number of panels. Selling excess energy is another benefit. From January to July 11.5% of the total production in this regime was sold to the network.
Long road
Although installed capacity has more than doubled, Portugal still has a long way to go in the self-consumption championship. Geographically speaking, Portugal and Spain are the European countries with the best conditions for solar radiation, which is essential for the production of electricity from photovoltaic solar panels. However, when analyzing the installed photovoltaic solar energy per capita, in 2021, and comparing it with European peers, “Spain is in 9th place and Portugal cannot even be in the top ten”, underlines Pedro Amaral Jorge.
With regard to the self-consumption regime, which is specifically installed on roofs, the chairman of APREN reveals that our country “scores average, lagging behind countries like Germany and France, in terms of incentives and government aspects”. But not all is lost. According to a study cited by the official, which evaluated the technical and economic potential of solar photovoltaics for installation on roofs in the European Union, Portugal was in 4th place, with a total of 51.8% of current consumption. dedicated solar panels for self-consumption, however lagging behind countries such as Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria. Pedro Amaral Jorge warns, however, that “despite the potential, we are clearly lagging behind in project development and power installation compared to other European markets, demonstrating the need to continue to boost the development of this important segment in order to achieve the decarbonisation targets.” reach “.
ADENE’s president underlines that energy communities around the world are growing, and Portugal is following this trend and creating conditions for the implementation of new projects in the area, “because it is the right way to respond to the challenge of clean and renewable energy and to achieve the carbon neutrality goals”. Nelson Lage recalled that the recent legislation, published in January, “bringed a new approach”.
The diploma came to unify the organization and operation of the National Electricity System (SEN) and entailed a series of measures aimed at removing barriers associated with simplified registration and licensing, as well as participation in electricity markets. The problem? The measurements are not yet on the ground. “It is expected that, approximately eight months after the publication of the diploma, the planned measures would already have been properly implemented. However, due to an apparent lack of human resources in the official entities, especially in the DGEG, the implementation of the diploma has been has been a lengthy process, in which APREN has tried to do its part to speed up the process,” said Pedro Amaral Jorge.
Source: DN
