'Spectacular demand' for Portuguese solar power

Paul Rees 13 July 2019

Despite a demanding ceiling price of €45/MWh the Portuguese government's tender for solar generation facilities has received applications for projects with seven times the generation capacity it will allocate.

Portugal’s decision for public auction procurement process for PV plants has been met with spectacular demand, writes Marian Willuhn.

The Portuguese government plans to tender for 1.4 GW of solar generation capacity. With the auctions in question due to be completed by August 10, minister of the environment and energy transition João Pedro Matos Fernandes has announced a ceiling price for the tender will be set at €45/MWh (€0.045/kWh).

Fernandes told the Sapo financial newspaper the 24-project PV tender prompted applications for 10 GW of capacity from 64 projects. The minister added, he was fully aware the current average price for solar on the Iberian peninsula is around €55/MWh.

“Regarding the subscription of 10 GW for 1.4 GW of connection points available, it seems to me the market is looking into Portugal as a competitive and transparent market with fair and well planned bidding processes,” Pedro Amaral Jorge, CEO of Portuguese renewable energy association APREN told pv magazine. “Having said that, for sure Portugal gathers all the required and necessary conditions to be a top European market for PV generation, both centralized and distributed.”

Fierce price competition

State secretary for energy João Galamba revealed, of the 1.4 GW of capacity to be auctioned, 750 MW will be assigned to projects in central-northern Portugal’s Centro region and another 340 MW will be assigned to the Lisboa e Vale do Tejo region, in the center of the country. Alentejo and Algarve, sunnier regions further south, will be allocated only 235 MW and 30 MW, respectively.

Jorge agreed with Minister Fernandes’ prediction such high demand for the tender would drive prices even further below the ceiling price.

To put that restrictive €45 price ceiling into a southern European context, Greece recently allocated 143 MW of new solar generation capacity for €62/MWh. The Iberian peninsula, however, has attracted subsidy free solar projects in recent months at power prices as low as €27/MWh.

Developers in the Portuguese tender can present two kinds of offer: one with a fixed price below €45/MWh and another with a variable tariff which includes a requirement to pay compensation to the electricity system, depending on the spot market power prices. When the project price is higher than the market price, the Portuguese government will pay the project the difference between the prices. When the market price is higher, the project owner will pay the Portuguese government the difference.

Successful projects will be granted a 15-year power supply deal.

Minister Fernandes said the current subscription level suggests around €1 billion will be drawn into the country’s renewable energy sector as the government plans to install 7 GW of solar by 2030.

Portugal has installed 700 MW of solar capacity, mainly on residential and commercial rooftop, to date. By 2020 the country wants to have 1.5 GW installed, looking at the development of large-scale solar parks.

_________

Marian Willuhn

Covering news on power electronics, start-ups, and inverters, Marian writes for pv magazine’s International, Australian, and German online presences. He also edits the international print magazine and organizes webinars and events.

Comments

0 #14 PatrickPortugal 2020-08-24 15:57

Quoting Ralf:

Quoting TT:
Quoting Ralf:
Why people always want to "sell" energy.
Use your self generated energy for own consumption.If you own a pool or heat/cool your house with Air-Cons...it absolutly makes sence to invest in your own solar power station.Every KW you use in your home,saves you23% of IVA as well.

All very good in theory Ralf, but in practice it is very difficult to consume exactly what you generate. A grid-tied system (one which works in harmony with your network-supplied power) will often generate more than what is being used. When this happens, the excess goes to back into the grid BUT (unless you have an old spinning disc meter) you get charged for it as consumption!
You can ask EDP Distribuição to re-program the meter but I'm still waiting after 4 years.

Then you do something wrong:
If you register with DGEG a MCP ( up to 1,5 kw) they will change your meter in max.14 days if you dont know how to do this,ask a PV-Expert.
There are as well "Home managment systems" that will send your "overproduction" into a heat element for your hot water or load your EV like i do.
Ralf-Solarpower

Asked several PV experts but they are not interested in helping with the registration or tell me to make an off-grid solution. What is going on with PV and meter changes, is it still possible in 2020 ??

+2 #13 Boris H 2019-07-16 09:25

I watched a programme on TV recently
"How do they do that" it discussed solar power systems.
It stated that Portugal has the largest solar power station in the world and is leading the way in solar power technology.

0 #12 Ralf 2019-07-15 17:43

Quoting TT:

Thank you Ralf. I did the MCP in 2015, I am still waiting. DGEG are impossible to contact.
So now, yes, I 'dump' the excess into a hot water tank. If you want a job done well, do it yourself!

The EDP is obliged to change your meter..not reprogramm it.I did several MCPs and the meters were changed in max.14 days after applying in the SERUP.
Only the meters from SAGEM count the injected production as consume.
In this link ( www.dgeg.gov.pt/pagina.aspx?js=0&codigono=636364478673AAAAAAAAAAAA ) and then "Perguntas Frequentes" - Question 27 says exactly the same as what you describe. Unfortunatly its all in portuguese...

0 #11 Ed 2019-07-15 15:01

Quoting Kevin B:

This is for Ralf if possible. Ralf how can I contact you to discuss a PV problem I have.

If you both send me your email addresses solar

algarvedailynews.com then I can get you in touch with eachother. Ed

0 #10 Kevin B 2019-07-15 14:23

This is for Ralf if possible. Ralf how can I contact you to discuss a PV problem I have.

+2 #9 Dorothy 2019-07-15 10:14

Quoting Jeff Brown:

Why do we hear nothing of how spectacularly wrong Portugal got its electricity generation? Nowadays one of the most expensive in the EU yet abundant solar generation has always been possible. Read so much of the expat comment in earlier times and note how it was 'official' policy as told us by the locals masquerading as 'foreigners' to discourage solar and wind and use EDP. Around 2012 Portugal then having the quite inspired decision to penalise those far sighted, usually north Europeans, who had installed over capacity on their domestic generation systems: as an income stream. So instead of paying as originally agreed to feed back surplus into the REN / EDP system; now charging us and so making the investments worthless! Now EDP is largely Chinese and foreigner owned we get encouraged to go off-grid again!

...............................................

Do not be FOOLED by everything you read in expat blogs, most of it is nonsense.

0 #8 TT 2019-07-14 21:40

Quoting Ralf:

Quoting TT:
Quoting Ralf:
Why people always want to "sell" energy.
Use your self generated energy for own consumption.If you own a pool or heat/cool your house with Air-Cons...it absolutly makes sence to invest in your own solar power station.Every KW you use in your home,saves you23% of IVA as well.

All very good in theory Ralf, but in practice it is very difficult to consume exactly what you generate. A grid-tied system (one which works in harmony with your network-supplied power) will often generate more than what is being used. When this happens, the excess goes to back into the grid BUT (unless you have an old spinning disc meter) you get charged for it as consumption!
You can ask EDP Distribuição to re-program the meter but I'm still waiting after 4 years.

Then you do something wrong:
If you register with DGEG a MCP ( up to 1,5 kw) they will change your meter in max.14 days if you dont know how to do this,ask a PV-Expert.
There are as well "Home managment systems" that will send your "overproduction" into a heat element for your hot water or load your EV like i do.
Ralf-Solarpower

Thank you Ralf. I did the MCP in 2015, I am still waiting. DGEG are impossible to contact.
So now, yes, I 'dump' the excess into a hot water tank. If you want a job done well, do it yourself!

+1 #7 Maximillian 2019-07-14 18:08

Quoting Ralf:

Why people always want to "sell" energy.
Use your self generated energy for own consumption.If you own a pool or heat/cool your house with Air-Cons...it absolutly makes sence to invest in your own solar power station.Every KW you use in your home,saves you23% of IVA as well.

We were told that we had to hook up with EDP and they would manage (through WIFI) our consumption. There's also a limit to the Kw you may generate. Not exactly a sense of freedom, no thank you.

+1 #6 Ralf 2019-07-14 11:12

Quoting TT:

Quoting Ralf:
Why people always want to "sell" energy.
Use your self generated energy for own consumption.If you own a pool or heat/cool your house with Air-Cons...it absolutly makes sence to invest in your own solar power station.Every KW you use in your home,saves you23% of IVA as well.

All very good in theory Ralf, but in practice it is very difficult to consume exactly what you generate. A grid-tied system (one which works in harmony with your network-supplied power) will often generate more than what is being used. When this happens, the excess goes to back into the grid BUT (unless you have an old spinning disc meter) you get charged for it as consumption!
You can ask EDP Distribuição to re-program the meter but I'm still waiting after 4 years.

Then you do something wrong:
If you register with DGEG a MCP ( up to 1,5 kw) they will change your meter in max.14 days if you dont know how to do this,ask a PV-Expert.
There are as well "Home managment systems" that will send your "overproduction" into a heat element for your hot water or load your EV like i do.
Ralf-Solarpower

0 #5 Maxwell 2019-07-14 08:15

Buried in these funding applications will be clear evidence of Portugal's middle eastern not European tendencies in that all will need proof of established 'local partnerships'. So conforming to the contractual small print and none will proceed further without these assurances. Yet again indicating that organised crime has been switching its involvement from the now largely foreign owned so with much reduced perks REN / EDP to the richer new pastures of wind and solar generation. No doubt today's Portuguese electricity generation regulator; like yesterday's when commenting at the recent energy committee hearing, also chosen on the understanding that they must not trouble themselves with European standards of regulation! 'Portuguese Regulation' was sufficient.

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