The new LNEG report on technical potential of renewable energy in Portugal is now available online, focusing onshore and offshore wind power, solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power (CSP), solar thermal and bioenergy. It also presents the primary energy resource potential for wave power. It aims to contribute to both public policy support and public/private decision-making by stakeholders in Portuguese society in the domains of energy, energy transition and GHG emissions mitigation.
The study identifies the technically viable energy generation achievable from a specific RES technology, considering the available primary energy resource and the geographic, environmental and land use constraints. The renewable energy economic potential (representing the fraction of the technical potential that is economically viable) is not presented. Market potentials are also not dealt with (i.e., reflecting the capacity/power generation that the market effectively manages to implement).
The presented technical RES potentials include the total capacity currently installed in the country. The values are dynamic, given the substantial uncertainty associated with their estimate. They are mostly assessed for mainland Portugal, in most cases with spatial disaggregation of at least for NUTII, and in some cases, at parish and/or type of building level.
The following technical RES potentials are estimated:
– decentralized solar PV in artificial areas: 23.33 GW that can generate up to 36.84 TWh/year of electricity;
– centralized solar PV: between 168.82 GW and 45.63 GW, with the maximum installed capacity corresponding up to 278.11 TWh/year of generated electricity;
– CSP: 62.6 GW and circa 183.61 TWh/year;
– onshore wind: 15.7 GW that could generate 37.13 TWh/year;
– offshore wind: 36 GW floating offshore wind and 2 GW for fixed offshore wind that could generate up to 126.14 TWh/year (floating) or 6.31 TWh/year (fixed).
– solar thermal: 0.95 GWt and 0.95 TWh/year generated heat for services buildings, 7.26 GWt and 5.84 TWh/year for residential buildings and 1.06 GWt and 1.15 TWh/year for industry (up to 160 ºC).
The report (portuguese only) is available here: Sofia G. Simões, Teresa Simões, Juliana Barbosa, Carlos Rodrigues, Pedro Azevedo, João P. Cardoso, Jorge Facão, Paula A. Costa, Paulo Justino, Francisco Gírio, Alberto Reis, Paula C. Passarinho, Luís Duarte, Patrícia Moura, Mariana Abreu, Ana Estanqueiro, António Couto, Paula Oliveira, Lídia Quental, Pedro Patinha, Justina Catarino, Ana Picado (2023) Estimativa de potenciais técnicos de energia renovável em Portugal. pp. 112. LNEG: Relatório Técnico, july 2023, Amadora, Portugal. Available: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.9/4077
A short powerpoint presentation of main results can be downloaded here (also in Portuguese): https://www.lneg.pt/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Apresentacoes_LNEGPotenciaisTecnicos13julho2023.pdf
