In Portugal, on-site power solutions are a relevant aspect in the context of the energy transition. The National Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030 (PNEC 2030) sets a of 9 GW of photovoltaic energy by 2030, with 7 GW of centralised production and 2 GW of decentralised production. This would require Portugal to quadruple the current installed capacity of decentralised production (which is around 0.5 GW).
The recent new decree-law that establishes the organisation and functioning of the National Electricity System (Decree-Law no. 15/2022, of January 14) incorporated the self-consumption regime, individual and collective, as well as energy communities, improving and clarifying some aspects of the previous legislation. It is important to note that the legal concept of self-consumption is not restricted to solar primary source projects, but encompasses any production that has renewable energy as its primary source.
According to the Portuguese legal framework, the use of internal networks that do not involve the use of the public grid to conduct electricity between the self-consumption and the consumption facility is not subject to any grid tariff. In addition, the charges for the costs of general economic interest that are part of the grid tariffs corresponding to self-consumed electricity conducted by the public grid may be, in whole or in part, deducted from the grid tariffs by order of the member of the Government responsible for the energy sector.
We have seen a significant increase in the number of companies implementing energy as a service business model, which means that they carry out energy services without the clients having to invest their own funds into the projects. The capital invested is then repaid with the achieved cost savings which allows the client's capital to be focused on its core business. Portuguese legal framework encompasses this type of mechanism very well, for example, allowing the ownership of the self-consumption unit to belong to a third party (the investor).
