Massive Solar Ramp-Up Targeted In Portugal’s Energy Transition Plan (NECP)

Member states of the EU were due to present their updated energy and climate plans to Brussels by Friday, June 30.

Portugal had very little to worry about as it has already increased its presence in the onshore wind sector. As far as its installed capacity for both solar energy and electrolysers used for green hydrogen, the country has already more than doubled its goals for 2023.

As part of its national energy and climate plans (NECP), Portugal hopes to use renewable energy sources to boost its annual electricity output. In 2022, around 60 per cent of energy was generated in this way but by 2030 it hopes to increase this figure to 85 per cent.

Its previous forecast for producing green hydrogen was 2.5GW but by 2030, Portugal is now aiming to bump this up to 5.5GW with increased electrolyser capacity.

The same applies to solar energy. The country’s previous plan aimed to reach a capacity of 9.3GW by 2023 but the revised plan is looking to hit a target of 20.4GW instead.

Partly due to the expected impact of the repowering of older infrastructure, the 2030 onshore wind target has been raised from 9GW to 10.4GW by the Government.

According to the NECP, by 2030, a capacity of 2GW could be reached later this year when the country’s first offshore wind auction takes place.

In the generation of the European renewable for the electricity sector, Portugal already boasts one of the highest ratios among member states.

As their plan noted, by 2030, Portugal can reduce its reliance on natural gas-fired power plants from the current 5GW down to 3.8GW by ratcheting up its renewables ambitions.

Compared to 2005 levels, by 2030, the country is also aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 55 per cent. The previous plan allowed for a reduction of between 45 and 55 per cent.

When its first finalised form was submitted back in 2019, Portugal suggested that it could become carbon neutral five years earlier than its NECP stated.

A final plan is due to be submitted to the European Commission by June of next year once the NECPs of all member states have been publicly checked.

In September 2020, the first EU-wide assessment of the final NECPs was published by the European Commission. It informed each state that every two years it must submit a progress report.

The objective of these NECPs relates to five aspects of EU-wide energy policies. They include innovation and competitiveness, the internal energy market, energy efficiency, decarbonisation, energy security, and research.

These targets are monitored by the Commission to ensure that progress is being achieved in the EU. In this respect, Portugal is outdoing most of the other members.

However, the government insisted that in order to remain on track to meet its goals, an investment of €75bn ($82bn) in green energy projects is needed.

While the EU set a target of 32.5 per cent, Portugal is confident in its plan that it can account for 49 per cent of its energy usage from renewables. This is compared to the original 47 per cent in the previous NECP, as reported by rechargenews.com.