The recent update of the objectives of the National Energy and Climate Plan (PNEC) 2030 has marked the celebration of the leading networking event Energyear Portugal 2023. Therefore, the opportunities and challenges that the renewable sector has in Portugal if it wants to achieve the ambitious results that have been proposed between now and 2030 were defined. In particular, it was highlighted the need for Portugal to develop infrastructures for the use of the grid and to respond to all projects in an efficient way.

João Bernardo, Director General, Directorate General of Energy and Geology (DGEG) of Portugal, said that Portugal is in a very interesting position from the point of view of energy and the basic structure and conditions, as well as highlighting the country's complete commitment to renewables, which will require a major electrification of the grid. Bernardo also highlighted the exponential growth that Portugal has experienced in recent decades, which has led to increasingly ambitious challenges. "In the 1980s there were half a dozen producers and now we have 10 million in Portugal, so it is more difficult and we have to pay attention to everybody," he stressed.

"We have decarbonisation targets until 2035, and in order to be able to accommodate all projects with production variability, we will need to boost storage, which is one of the key issues and which has not yet reached the maturity to offer a solution that is compatible with traditional power plants", explained the general manager. For this reason, Bernardo stresses the need to make a stronger commitment to storage and hybridisation equipment in order to optimise infrastructures, taking advantage of situations in which the grid is maximising production.

This need to boost infrastructures and improve technologies is why he considers it necessary to modify the PNEC. "We have an extremely ambitious programme at all levels, from the technology to be used to the opening up of a range of new technologies," said João Bernardo, highlighting the country's commitment to offshore wind."There is a commitment to a sustainable industry.The first offshore wind projects appeared as pilot projects and, now, they will have a capacity to impact society thanks to the energy sector. Offshore wind will gain in scale and enter the production line," he explained.

In addition, he also pointed to the challenge posed in Portugal by the implementation of projects in the territory. "The land has different uses and there has to be a compatibility of the territory with all these sectors of activity and this way of occupying the territory. Consumption is growing and electrification is gaining ground, but renewables need more power to guarantee the same energy, so there is a greater demand for infrastructures and this has to be compatible with a good use of the territory", he explained.

Another important point highlighted by Bernardo and which occurs in Portugal is the difficulty for small companies to produce. "We are asking the EU for an aggregation of purchases and to create scale and capacity to be able to intervene in the market, obtaining cheaper prices and more long-term conditions, and this can only be done WITH diversity of scale.That is fundamental here," he argued.

Tackling 4 challenges, giving more flexibility and developing diversification

These objectives on grid capacity and infrastructure development mentioned by Bernardo were supported by Pedro Amaral Jorge, president of APREN - Associação Portuguesa de Energias Renováveis, who reported on the four key points that the Portuguese system needs to address. First, he pointed out that the state's infrastructures are completely undersized and outdated, and that they need to be modernised and digitised to be able to process all this information from the requests made to them. "We have to have a logic, a network design, process design, information systems, qualification of people, new civil servants... and do it with the public administration. It has to be an attractive career because, if not, we are going to be left with people who have no qualifications," Amaral explained.

Second, he stressed the need to electrify more territories. "Although we have optimisation solutions that tell us about batteries, we have to have a bigger dimension and there are areas in the country that have no electricity grid serving them, and we have to be aware that this is a reality," he said.

Thirdly, he talked about creating a stable climate for investment."We have to have stability because investments in renewables are capital intensive and the risk incurred by developers are many. The design has to be stable over a very long period, at least until the investments become profitable. We have a lot of electrical power that has to be installed and unfortunately it cannot be done far from the territory, we have to get public policies that determine the balance between what the developers have to do, without forgetting the other economic activities," Amaral explained.

Finally, he spoke of the dependence on supply chains. "The technologies we need come from Asia, especially China. We have to solve this problem so that we don't go from energy dependence to material dependence," he argued.

For her part, Elsa Ferreira, CEO Iberia of Amarenco, it is necessary to provide greater flexibility and create good communication channels. "This PNEC is an opportunity for the country, to attract investment and make the country grow. But there are challenges that we as producers and promoters have to face on a daily basis: we have to create greater elasticity and flexibility, more flexibility and freedom for the licensing entities to facilitate and accompany us in the energy transition. In addition, we have to create channels of communication and information so that projects and this energy transition can move forward and we can achieve the objectives we are aiming for by 2030," she explained.

Diversification and controlled market growth is something fundamental for Alexandre Kisslinger, CEO Portugal of Acciona Energia: "As a country we have to be different, we have to aim for a diversified structured growth to avoid technical problems in the management of the national electricity system and we have to look at the weight of the market. The country is doing very well in terms of offshore positioning, but it seems to me that there is still a lack of a market structure that allows for the growth of the battery and storage market. This is something we are betting on and we know it has a future, but unfortunately the Portuguese or Iberian market is not yet ready to move forward with this technology," he argued.

Hugo Costa, Country Manager of EDP Renovaveis, agreed that the shortage of grid capacity with some tender processes already launched is a constraint for developers: "I would say that EDPR's commitment in Portugal is continuous and will be even greater the more visibility we have with the reinforcement of the grid, without forgetting all the difficulties that developers have in the supply chain and the economics of the project". For his part, Miguel Lobo, Country Head Portugal of Lightsource bp, supported the need for diversification, as well as talking about the use of the land: "It is necessary to give the land several uses. Agrivoltaics promote a significant gain in biodiversity".