Biogas in Portugal
General
In
Portugal electricity represents around 20% of final energy consumption,
of which 30% to 40% is renewable-based, mainly large hydro plants. Of
the renewable technologies, wind power has been growing fastest over
recent years. Targets exist for new renewables: for wave power a pilot
area will be chosen for testing different concepts.
Portugal is developing actions to increase and improve the
environmental issues in the energetic laws, with base in the
“Estratégia Nacional para a Energia” - RCM n.º 169/2005 (Energetic
National Strategy). In this context, all the efforts are to look for a
more sustainable energy using the best available technology and, in
long term, to support the development of new technologies.
According
to the Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources
the target for the share of energy from renewable sources in gross
final consumption of energy in the year 2020 for Portugal is 31% (in
the year 2005 the share was 20.5%). The Directive has a mandatory 10 %
target for transport to be achieved by all Member States, which refers
to renewable sources as a whole, not biofuels alone.
Renewable energy projections according to the National Renewable Energy Action Plan for Portugal
The
National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) for Portugal was
submitted in August 2010. The target according to Annex I of Directive
2009/28/EC is 31% for the year 2020 and the projected NREAP share in
that year exactly matches the target. According to the
projection, the most important contribution in the year 2020 is
expected from biomass (renewable heating and cooling) (2322 ktoe, 38%
of all renewable energy). Second important contribution is expected
from wind power (14.6 TWh or 1255 ktoe, 21% of all renewable energy).
The third largest contribution is from hydropower (14.1 TWh or 1210
ktoe, 20% of all renewable energy). Wind power contributes with 6.9 GW
(14.6 TWh) in the year 2020 (onshore wind 6.8 GW and 14.4 TWh, offshore
wind 0.1 GW and 0.2 TWh). For solar photovoltaic the 2020 contribution
is projected to be 1.0 GW (1.5 TWh). For solar thermal the 2020
contribution is projected to be 160 ktoe. The two most important
biofuels are projected to contribute 450 ktoe (biodiesel) and 27 ktoe
(bioethanol / bio-ETBE) by 2020. The renewable electricity production
from solid biomass amounts to 1.5 TWh (126 ktoe) and for biogas it is
expected to be 0.5 TWh (45 ktoe). The consumption of renewable heat is
expected to amount to 1484 ktoe for solid biomass and 37 ktoe for
biogas.
Renewable heat and
electricity: biogas
The
current national strategy defines a target of 100 MW for the anaerobic
treatment of resi-dues, and seeks to review the old objectives and
redefine a new action plan to achieve them. The most recent
legislation, decree 691/2006 fixing the maximum eligible limits for
investment pro-jects concerning the production of electricity from
renewable energy sources establishes €2.100/kW of maximum eligible
investment for biomass power plants. The Decree-law 23_A of 16th
February 2005 modified the system of feed-in tariffs. There are some
minimum and maxi-mum tariffs, according to the variations of load on
the grid. The feed-in tariff is applicable for 15 years for biomass and
biogas plants. For anaerobic digestion, the tariff is 115 to 117
EUR/MWh, for landfill gas it is 102 to 104 €/MWh, which is similar to
the tariff for solid bio-mass, and significantly higher than the tariff
for electricity originating from municipal waste (74 €/MWh).
System
of investment subsidies for corporate and public entities, currently
running for all REs: the maximum eligible investment concerns 2.100
€/kW for biomass plants. Up to 300.000 € are non refundable. The rest
of the investment should be refundable in 9 years (with a zero interest
rate) after a period of 3 years where no reimbursement has to be made.
Thus, refunding has to be fully achieved 12 years after the initial
investment.
Future programme changes
expected
No information available on future policy changes.
Sources
Neves,
M, Ministry of Economy and Innovation, Portugese Republic, Promotion of
RES-E in Portugal, Fourth workshop of the International Feed-In
Cooperation, Ljubljana, October 18-19, 2007.
Interactive EurObserv’ER Database, http://www.eurobserv-er.org, 2007
The National Renewable Energy Action
Plans (NREAPs) are all published on the Transparency Platform on
Renewable Energy: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/transparency_platform/action_plan_en.htm
(sourced July - December 2010)
Renewable Energy Projections as Published in the National Renewable
Energy Action Plans of the European Member States, http://www.ecn.nl/nreap
(sourced December 2010)
Interactive EurObserv’ER Database
http://www.eurobserv-er.org
Last update: December 2010
This information can be referenced without permission provided that
thesource is mentioned completely and correctly: 'Interactive
EurObserv'ER
Database, http://www.eurobserv-er.org (date of last update)'
Suggestions for improvements to the policy description can be sent to
EurObserv'ER by e-mail: project@eurobserv-er.org
The EurObserv'ER barometer is a project supported by the European
Commission within the DG ENER 'Intelligent Energy Europe' programme and
by Ademe, the French Environment and Energy management Agency. The
EurObserv'ER Barometer is the result of the investigation and research
work of its authors. The European Commission is not responsible for any
use that may be made of the information contained therein.