Following the Government Program and the Memorandum of Understanding and by Decree-Law No. 25/2012 of 6 February, the Government suspended indefinitely the allocation of power injection in Public Service Power Grid for energy produced from special arrangements.
The new regulations for the energy sector, approved by Portuguese Government, transpose into national law Directive No. 2009/72/EC and Directive No. 2009/73/EC laying down the common rules for the internal market in electricity and natural gas, respectively.
The two Directives are part of the so-called Third European Union Energy Package, whose main objectives are to increase competition, enhance the efficiency of the regulatory authorities and increase the investment to benefit of consumers of electricity and gas natural.
The set of measures now adopted change the organizational framework of the national electricity system of Decree-Law No. 78/2011 of 20 June, and the organizational framework for natural gas of Decree-Law No. 77/2011 of 20 June.
Firstly, the licensing requirement to commercialize natural gas and electricity is replaced by a registration at Direcção Geral de Energia e Geologia. As a consequence, it is expected the warranties which were associated with the license to be waived.
Secondly, in order to strengthen competition among operators in the energy market, the new energy regulation reinforces the discipline of separation of production and commercialization activities and operation of networks transport activity.
Towards this objective, the operator of the distribution network belonging to vertically integrated undertaking and serving a number of clients over 100,000 must now draw up a compliance program which sets out the measures to be taken to ensure that discriminatory and anticompetitive conduct is excluded.
Thirdly, the consumer's rights are enhanced, namely the change of supplier, that must now be effected within three weeks. Other important change is that consumers may allow access to their current supplier's consumption data by other suppliers, without any charge.
The new energy regulation also sets out the obligation on suppliers to provide information to consumers, for example, about their consumption, at any time, without any charge.
The directives and the new energy regulations agreed in the need to provide protection to vulnerable customers, mainly on the prices issues. However, neither the directive nor the new law established specific measures to ensure such protection.
Finally, the enlargement of the powers of regulatory authorities is made, mainly by competition control and protection of consumers.
Ordinance No. 142/2011 of 6 April approves the National Natural Gas Transportation Regulation ("Rules"), amending the previous legislation, approved by Decree No. 390/94 of 17 June.
The Regulation establishes the technical and safety conditions to be met in the design, construction, operation, infrastructure maintenance and placement out of service of the National Natural Gas Transportation Network ("RNTGN"), with the aim of ensuring adequate flow of natural gas, interoperability with networks to which they relate and safety of people and property.
The RNTGN has application in:
(a) Pipeline transportation of natural gas in diameter equal or superior to 100 mm and whose operating pressures are higher than 20 bar; and
(b) Pressure regulating stations belonging to the national gas transmission network.
The gas transported must be non toxic and non corrosive, in compliance with ISO 13686, or a technically equivalent standard. Natural gas should be transported at a temperature compatible with the infrastructures of transport and can never exceed the temperature of 120ºC.
The quality management system of pipelines to transport natural gas must be based on the specifications of EN ISO 9000 or a technically equivalent standard.
A classification system for local implementation of the pipes takes into account: (i) the population density, (ii) the nature, extent and purpose of the buildings, constructions and works of art therein, (iii) the intensity of rail traffic, road transport and (iv) the future allocations provided in the various planning instruments.
As part of security measures and protection of pipelines, stand out, among others, the establishment of the control area of activities of third parties, reliance on the authorization of the RNTGN responsible technician to perform works ranging from the bondage of the pipeline, a minimum distance of 35 m from any inhabited building (75 m in case of buildings open to the public or that present particular risks) and comply with a minimum depth of 0.8 m.
Technical requirements are also set for the pressure regulation points, the pipes, the materials of the various components of the pipeline and the conditions of operation and maintenance, including mandatory periodic inspections ranging between six months to two years, according to the type of inspection and the area of the location of the infrastructure.
© 2011 Macedo Vitorino & Associados
The Portuguese government has endorsed strategic guidelines for the energy sector by defining the National Energy Strategy for the next ten years (“ENE 2020”). Recently approved by the Cabinet Resolution no. 29/2010, it implements the "New Energy Plan ("Plan”) proposed by the government.
1. The National Energy Efficiency Fund
The Fund will be the financial instrument of the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency. It is endowed with 1.5 million euros and aims to achieve three goals, (i) encouraging energy efficiency, (ii) supporting new energy efficiency projects and (iii) promoting behaviour change.
The Fund will finance the purchase of equipment with high energy performance by citizens and companies and will grant facilities to support the investment in renewables, including the solar thermal energy through the National Reference Strategic Framework – QREN.
2. Strengthening renewable energies
The Plan includes the consolidation of the already scheduled investments on hydroelectric dams currently under construction. There is also margin for expansion in small hydro power facilities of 250 MW, helping to achieve a total of 8600 MW of hydro power. The implementation of projects of reversible capacity with integrated wind energy is also contemplated enabling the reuse and storage of hydropower energy based on wind.
By 2020, public tenders for wind farms licensing up to 3000 MW must have been launched. Several solar programmes will increase the installed capacity to 1500 MW. The government has a target of 250 MW for wave power plants and 250 MW for geo thermal energy.
3. Other investments
A system of planning and monitoring of demand and supply will be implemented in the first semester of 2010. And by 2012, a pilot project, the smart city of Évora, will contribute to give the majority of Portuguese consumers access, by 2020, to intelligent networks, as well as to the creation of a fund of balance tariffs.
The Plan confirms the evolution of MOBI.E, ensuring the creation of a nation wide network of charging electric vehicles, in order to substitute, approximately, 10% of fossil fuel consumption.