Portuguese renewable energy
association Apren has called on Portugal’s government to launch an auction for
large-scale solar and wind power projects on the model of the 3 GW auction
recently held by the Spanish government.
"In Portugal,” Apren said
in its statement, "an auction of this kind, and of this size, has never been
launched to date. This may represent a very interesting solution to have lower
power production prices for new power plants, and to enable Portugal to comply
with its 2020 EU renewable energy target.”
Apren stressed that Spain’s
recent auction was a very important step to restore confidence to all potential
investors in renewable energies. The association also highlighted that the
price of €43/MWh at which the auction concluded it is cheaper than current
power generation from coal and nuclear source.
According to Portuguese
financial newspaper Jornal de Negocios, there are currently 15 large-scale PV
projects being planned in Portugal. Hyperion, a unit of local utility EDP, is
planning to build five PV plants totaling 150 MW in the south of the country at
a cost of €130 million, while
another 220 MW solar facility is
being developed by UK-based renewable energy company Welink
and Chinese engineering services
provider China Triumph International Engineering (CTIEC).
Furthermore, local
developer Expoentfokus is planning to deploy 130 MW of solar capacity in the
country thanks to an investment ranging from €100 million to €120 million.
Other MW-sized PV projects are also being implemented by local firm Exus
Management Partners. All of these projects could eventually compete in the
future auction requested by Apren.
Meanwhile, Portugal reached
465 MW of cumulative registered PV capacity at the end of February 2018,
according to the latest data from the Portuguese Directorate General for
Geology and Energy. In the first two months of this year, no new PV was
registered in the country. In 2016, new installations reached only 14 MW. In
2015 and 2014, newly installed PV capacity was 32 MW and 120 MW, respectively.
Most of Portugal’s
installed PV power comes from residential and commercial PV installations. Of
the cumulative PV capacity, in fact, 100.9 MW comes from microgeneration PV
systems (up to 250 kW) and 72.5 MW from mini-generation PV systems (up to 3.68
kW).
(pv-magazine.com)