Portugal Added 546MW of Solar Energy in 1H 2022

According to figures released by Directorate General for Energy and Geology (DGEG), Portugal added about 546MW of PV in 1H 2022, close to the new installation throughout the whole year in 2021, of which, the utility-scale solar energy projects reached 225MW, and the remaining 321MW came from self-consumption production units, both in residential, commercial and industrial sectors. As of the end of June this year, Portugal's accumulated PV generation capacity reached 2.19GW, and the installed capacity of solar energy increased the most, from 299MW in 2013 to 2192MW in 2022, this being an increase of 633%.

The Portuguese 2030 National Plan for Energy and Climate (PNEC) has set the goal of achieving a total installed capacity of 6.6GW by 2025 and 9GW by 2030. According to the figure of DGEG, about 3.45GW of solar projects have obtained production licensing, but not operating licensing. "Considering the current speed of installation of PV power plants in Portugal, the goal of 9GW can be reached by 2030 only by overcoming the difficulties inherent in the licensing process." said an APREN spokesperson.

In general, Portugal currently operates about 16GW of renewable energy capacity, of which hydropower accounts for the largest proportion of 7.35GW, followed by wind energy of 5.64GW. Although hydropower is still the largest renewable energy source in the country at present, its annual production decreased by 38% between June 2021 and June 2022, while that of solar energy increased by 27% during the same period. According to APREN, solar generation reached an all-time high in July, accounting for 9% of the country's total power generation. The power generation in June and May also broke previous records, accounting for 8.6% and 8.2% of the total power generation respectively.

In April 2022, the Portuguese government approved exceptional measures to simplify procedures for energy production from renewable sources, including simplifying the procedures related to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project, which is expected to promote the deployment of PV in Portugal. In the first and second rounds of auctions held in Portugal in 2019 and 2020, a total of 2.1GW PV projects have not yet been connected to the grid. According to the auction rules, the developer must obtain the power generation license for the environmental impact assessment of the project within 18 months, while the project does not need such a license they must obtain the power generation license within one year. Due to the influence of COVID-19, the two grace periods have been extended to 37 months and 27 months respectively. In 1H 2022, China's exports to Portugal reached $441 million, equivalent to about 1.6GW of module exports. We expect the installed PV capacity in Portugal will reach 2GW in 2022.