Despite biomass electricity production not showing a significant increase in recent years, the need to rearrange the forest sector and the new governmental plans will provide an opportunity for growth.
Portugal has proved to be one of the European leading countries as far as the investment on the production of renewable energies is concerned. In 2015, 28% of the energy consumed was produced by renewable sources. This means the country is the eighth largest among European countries and the fifth largest among countries that share the euro and is expected to reach 31% in 2020.
In 2016, 58% of the electricity produced in Portugal was generated by renewable sources. In 2017, it slightly decreased to 47%.
Taking into account 2017 most recent data, biomass represented 5.1% of the electricity produced in Portugal, wind power represented 21.6%, hydropower represented 15%, and solar power represented1.6%; the remaining 56.7% were still supported by fossil fuel.
The last 9 years witnessed an exponential growth of electricity generation capacity from biomass. Between 2008 and 2017, power increased from 454 MW to 735 MW, corresponding to an increase of 61,9% In turn, the biomass production of electricity increased by 66% since 2008, ranking the Portuguese current production by 3075 GWh per year.
The target set by the National Action Plan of Energy for 2020 (“PNAER 2020”) of 769 MW of biomass electricity generation capacity by 2020 has almost been fulfilled, although, since 2010 the generation capacity has only increased by 3%.
The Portuguese Government’s current policy aims to change this scenario by issuing new production licenses for biomass energy. Decree law 64/2017 establishes a special and extraordinary regime for the installation and operation of new municipally owned biomass power stations. Municipalities will be allowed to assign their management to public or private entities.
The present paper is intended to provide readers with an overview of this specific sub-sector of renewable energies that could benefit from the long-awaited political impulse regarding the reform of the forest sector.
The water sector in Portugal comprises the activities of (i) abstraction, treatment and distribution of water for public consumption, and (ii) wastewater sanitation. The responsibility for providing the services is shared between the State and municipalities.
The State is responsible for the Multimunicipal systems, or “upstream” systems, consisting of a set of components upstream of the water distribution network and downstream of the sewage network, which allow connection to the "downstream" system.
In turn, municipalities are responsible for Municipal systems, or “downstream" systems, which allow the “upstream” system to be linked at the end user, as well as collecting residual water from the producer by rejecting them in a “upstream“ system.
The State and municipalities can use different management models to carry out the activities of the sector, namely: (i) direct management, (ii) delegated management, or (iii) concession management.
The sector is characterized by a huge diversity of realities, not only in the scale and resources of the management entities but also in the management model adopted, subsisting several distinct entities that operate within the framework of different management models.
The water sector is a sector with greater prevalence of public entities. The upstream systems are made up of a universe of 14 companies, of which 9 are from the state business sector, owned by the AdP Group - Águas de Portugal. Only 3 private entities provide services in upstream, which are owned mostly by the private groups AGS and Aquapor).
In downstream systems there tends to be greater openness to private entities. Of the 61 companies that render downstream services, 30 are municipal concessions granted to private companies, 27 are delegations in municipal and intermunicipal companies, 1 is a concessionaire of a multimunicipal system, 2 were established in partnership between the State and municipalities through the ÁdP Group, and 1 is a state-owned company.
According to the latest data published in the Annual Report of the Portuguese Water and Waste Services | 2016 (RASARP 2016), in the multimunicipal water supply the most used management model are the multi-municipal concessions, covering a total of 174 municipalities and more than 5.1 million inhabitants. In contrast, the predominant model in municipal systems is the direct management of municipalities with a total of 70% of the total municipalities and approximately 52% of the population of mainland Portugal.
Following harsh economic years, Portugal has shown an unexpected surge in tourism and in the real estate market in 2016 which is now catching the attention of local and foreign investors.
Portugal’s moderate growth rate in 2016, the support of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy and the commitment of the government to bring the deficit to 2.3% have renewed investors’ interest in Portugal. Still there are challenges ahead. Portugal needs to reduce historically high levels of Government debt and unemployment.
After implementing a harsh economic program with little social unrest, Portugal has facilitated the creation of new businesses, reduced the time for obtaining administrative permits, improved its labour legislation and reduced its corporate tax to 21%. For international investors looking for a place to invest in Europe, Portugal offers several advantages, of which many investors are not aware. Portugal is an ideal location for nearshoring industrial and services facilities because of its access to Europe’s 500 million consumers’ market and to the Portuguese-speaking world, which spreads across five continents: Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Portugal has a proven track record of successful foreign investments across a wide range of sectors. Investors that are considering Portugal as a place to invest want to know the hard facts about the country and not the stereotypes associated with the country and its people. Autoeuropa, Volkswagen’s Portuguese auto-plant, is one of its most productive plants. Nokia Siemens Networks chose Portugal to install its new Global Networks Solutions Center. Microsoft, Colt, Ikea have also successfully invested in Portugal in recent years.
Portugal has one of the most favourable business environments in the world. The World Bank's "Doing Business 2017" Report ranks Portugal in the top 25 of the world’s – 12th in the EU – most attractive locations to do business.
The «WhyPortugal 2017» report aims to answer the main questions of international businesses, institutional investors, private equities and industry players that are considering Portugal as a location to invest in Europe. This report provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges of doing business in Portugal and reviews the main aspects to be considered by foreign investors considering Portugal as a place to invest as regards the setting up of a business, hiring employees, taxation and government incentives.
The Portuguese Government launched the Residence Permit for Investment Activity programme (ARI), in 2012. This program known as Golden Visa, is a quick solution for investors from outside the Schengen area to obtain a residence permit in Portugal.
This plan includes new rules on the awarding of residence permits for investment activity, known as “golden visa”, to citizens of non-European Union (EU) countries that wish to make a significant investment in Portugal and meet certain requirements.
The “golden visas” grant their holders the right to free circulation in Portugal and in the rest of Schengen area countries. In addition to general requirements applicable to residence permits, “golden visas” require their holders to undertake the obligation of investing in Portugal of certain minimum amounts for a minimum period.
In this paper, you will find an outline of the opportunities of living in Portugal and of the main aspects to be thought-out by everybody considering Portugal as a place to live.
Following its successfully exit of the bailout of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union (EU) and the European Central Bank (ECB), Portugal is now catching the attention of foreign investors.
Portugal is no longer in the news for bad reasons. Still there are challenges ahead. Portugal needs to reduce historically high levels of Government debt and unemployment and continue reducing its budget deficit still perilously close to 3%.
After implementing a harsh economic program with little social unrest, Portugal is bringing down its chronic trade deficit and correcting some of its imbalances that have hindered its economic growth since the beginning of the millennium.
For international investors looking for a place to invest in Europe, Portugal offers several advantages, of which many investors are not aware. Portugal is an ideal location for nearshoring industrial and services facilities because of its access to Europe’s 500 million consumers’ market and to the Portuguese-speaking world, which spreads across five continents: Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Portugal has a proven track record of successful foreign investments across a wide range of sectors.
Investors that are considering Portugal as a place to invest want to know the hard facts about the country and not the stereotypes associated with the country and its people.
Autoeuropa, Volkswagen’s Portuguese auto-plant, is one of its most productive plants. Nokia Siemens Networks chose Portugal to install its new Global Networks Solutions Center. Microsoft, Colt, Ikea have also successfully invested in Portugal in recent years.
Portugal has one of the most favourable business environments in the world. The World Bank's "Doing Business 2016" Report ranks Portugal in the top 25 of the world’s – 11th in the EU – most attractive locations to do business.
WhyPortugal 2016 aims to show international businesses and institutional investors, private equities and industry players considering Portugal as a location to invest in Europe.
This report provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges of doing business in Portugal and reviews the main aspects to be considered by foreign investors considering Portugal as a place to invest as regards the setting up of a business, hiring employees, taxation and government incentives.