Prosumers / Energy sharing

DL 162/2019

Portugal has shifted from a restrictive regulation towards a more active, open one for consumers in 2019, with the implementation of DL 162/2019, which establishes the legal framework for individuals and collective consumers willing to participate in the energy market via self-generation and self-consumption.

Individual and collective energy prosumers are defined by the following definitions (art. 2 of DL 162/2019):
Individual prosumer: a final prosumer who produces renewable energy for their own consumption, at their facilities located in the national territory, and who can store or sell electricity with a renewable source of their own production, provided that, for non-domestic renewable energy self-consumers, these activities do not constitute their main commercial or professional activity.
Collective prosumer: a group of at least two self-consumers organized, in condominiums of buildings, or a group of self-consumers located in the same building or zone of apartments or houses, in a close relationship, industrial, commercial or agricultural units, and other infrastructure located in a delimited area, which have UPAC.

Be a self-consumption/generation consumer registered and structured according to the definitions provided above.

Portugal adopted a new net billing scheme specific to self-consumption unit (UPAC) prosumers, where they should receive a remuneration for the surplus energy supplied to the grid settled at 90% of the Iberian Electricity Market (MIBEL) price and which can be commercialized by an independent aggregator or utility company.

Individual self-consumption/generation projects are eligible for a 50% reduction in the General Economic Interest Costs (CIEG) if they are carried out by individual and/or collective prosumers, following the definitions provided for in the “addressees” section.
The reduction applies to the following costs:
• 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.
(art. 3, para. 1 of Ordinance 332/2012)
Prosumers may also benefit from other financial support initiatives that are aimed for self-consumption actors, such as the EUR 2,500 (art. 6.3 of Order 8745/2020) subsidy for the installation of photovoltaic panels and other equipment capable of producing renewable energy for self-consumption (art. 4 of Order 8745/2020).

• Energy sharing: Relevant
• Prosumers: Relevant