L R AS Published on Saturday 25 March 2023 - n° 438 - Categories:European countries
A review of the Portuguese photovoltaic market
At a symposium on the Portuguese solar market, speakers called for less stringent environmental assessments for projects of less than 100 hectares. This is a consequence of the considerable increase in applications for authorisation, which in two years has risen from 5 GW in the pipeline,
250 GW on standby in 2020. At the end of 2022, Portugal had 2.6 GW of installed solar PV capacity, of which 446 MW was for large projects and 385 MW for small and medium projects. By the end of July, the country had already surpassed the 2021 figures:
The country expects to triple its installation rate in order to reach its target of 9 GW of installed PV capacity by 2026. This is possible for a country that has one of the best solar irradiations in Europe and whose production is increasing by 50% compared to other European markets.
In addition to permitting being one of the main issues currently facing the Portuguese market, the lack of grid absorption is another major bottleneck in the country's ambitious renewable energy growth by 2030.
Grid reinforcement would be needed for older projects waiting to be connected. More work is needed to enable Portugal to meet its new RE targets by the end of the decade.
PV Tech of 23 March 2023
Editor's note: Portugal has long faced grid saturation and the difficulty of absorbing additional solar generation.
