New Solar Policy in Portugal!
Dec 14, 2022
In order to promote the development of renewable energy in Portugal, the Portuguese government has introduced a package of policy support for the reduction of environmental assessments for solar projects.
Under the plan, solar projects that require the installation of modules and inverters on an area of less than or equal to 100 hectares will no longer require a mandatory environmental assessment.
The Netherlands will also eliminate case-by-case studies for solar projects that cover an area of less than 15 hectares, are at least 2 kilometres from a solar power plant of more than 1 MW, require grid connection via 60 kV (or lower) lines and extend less than 10 kilometres.
Environmental assessments for green hydrogen projects will also be exempted
Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said the bulk of the package of measures, which will come into force on March 1, 2023, aims to reduce bureaucracy in renewable energy projects and support Portugal's goal of achieving 80% renewable energy generation by 2026.
"We plan to accelerate the energy transition and decarbonisation of the economy, accelerate the circular economy and reduce the daily bureaucratic practices of the public administration."
This is not the first time this year that the Portuguese government has exempted environmental impact studies to stimulate solar project development. in March, Portugal did the same for solar photovoltaic projects of up to 50MW, which provided support to reach the 80% renewable energy target by 2026.
In the first half of this year, thanks to this measure, Portugal installed more PV capacity than in the whole of 2021. As of 31 July 2022, 578 MW of solar PV were added.
In addition, in some cases, environmental assessments will no longer be required when replacing project equipment or changing installed capacity.
Green hydrogen projects will also be included in the new measures to reduce bureaucracy and environmental assessments for these projects will be waived to increase production. Portugal expects electrolysis capacity to reach 2GW by 2030.
Another measure that will reduce bureaucracy in renewable energy projects is the removal of the need to renew environmental permits for a period of 10 years.
In the first half of this year, thanks to this measure, Portugal installed more PV capacity than in the whole of 2021. As of 31 July 2022, 578 MW of solar PV were added.
In addition, in some cases, environmental assessments will no longer be required when replacing project equipment or changing installed capacity.
Green hydrogen projects will also be included in the new measures to reduce bureaucracy and environmental assessments for these projects will be waived to increase production. Portugal expects electrolysis capacity to reach 2GW by 2030.
Another measure that will reduce the bureaucracy of renewable energy projects is the elimination of the need to renew environmental permits for a period of 10 years.
