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Abbreviated form of legal source(s)
- DL 162/2019
- Directive 1/2021
- Ordinance 332/2012
- Ordinance 592/2010
- Regulation 266/2020
- Order 6453/2020
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Summary
Energy communities and collective energy producers are regulated by DL 162/2019, which is the latest amendment to the regulation for self-consumption in Portugal.
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Addressees
Energy communities must produce and self-consume electricity from renewable energy sources.
Participation in energy communities must be feasible for every energy consumer, especially for low-income families in vulnerable situation (art. 19, para. 7, letter f DL 162/2019).
As defined in art. 2 of DL 162/2019, energy communities are based on an open and voluntary membership of its members, partners or shareholders, who may be natural or legal persons, of a public or private nature, including small and medium-sized companies or local authorities, which is autonomous from its members or partners, but effectively controlled by them. -
Requirements and conditions
Energy communities are bound to the same regulations that apply to the individual self-consumption regime (art. 20, para. 2 DL 162/2019). Energy communities have to register their electricity-production units and obtain a production licence following the rules laid down in art. 21 of DL 162/2019. The energy produced by these communities may be traded via a contract for the acquisition and sale of energy or a market facilitator (art. 4 DL 162/2019).
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Tariff structure
The tariff structure applicable to energy communities is the same as the one for individual self-consumption actors, which is the grid access tariffs deducted from the grid usage tariffs corresponding to the self-consumption unit voltage (art. 29 of Regulation 266/2020). Tariff prices applicable to them (for the year 2021) are described in pages 170-172 of Directive 1/2021.
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Financial support
According to art. 3, letter b of Order 6453/2020, energy communities whose projects involve the utilisation of the grid can benefit from a complete (100%) reduction in expenses listed as General Economic Interest Costs (CIEG), described in art. 3, para. 1 of Ordinance 332/2012, such as:
• Costs arising from the special regime production from renewable sources;
• Costs related to tariff convergence with the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira; and
• Costs related to the Plan for the Promotion of Efficiency in Consumption (PPEC), which is a set of measures to promote efficiency in consumption, provided for in the tariff regulation.
if they: i) are structured according to the rules defined in article 2, letter j of DL 162/2019; and i) if no contract of services has been agreed upon, according to Ordinance 592/2010. -
Type of energy sharing
- Energy communities, energy cooperatives, energy clusters : Relevant