sou · GWB313d2 · 2009-01-01 00:00:00 — 15 days after having got answer to the pre-viability information application to assure that the developer send the application on connection point, 2,500 /MW to be paid to the DGGE. 15 days after receiving the license to assure that the developer will build the installations, 5,000 /MW to be paid to the operator of the grid to which the promoter will connect the installation. When project developer and grid operator reach an agreement to accelerate the construction of the needed reinforcements of the grid to transport the electricity produced, the amount of the de- posit will be agreed between grid operator and project developer. If no agreement is reached then the DGGE will decide but the fee will never exceed half the investment associated to the re- inforcement of the grid. The deposit will be paid to the correspon- ding grid operator. The deposits will be returned to the project developers no later than 30 days after the condition upon which the deposit was requested is fulfilled or when the obligation cannot be fulfilled by the project developers due to reason beyond its responsibility. The Portaria 1467-C/2001 defines the fees to be paid by project developers in the cases established in the DL 312/2001. The follow- ing fees will be paid to the DGGE of the : Before sending the pre-viability information application, 400 /MW with a maximum of 8,000 . Before sending the application for allocation of the connection point, 500 /MW with a maximum of 10,000 . There is a limit of 50 MW defining which generation plants are to be connected to the transmission grid or the distribution grid. For installed capacity larger than 50 MW the connection is to be done to the transmission grid (150–220 and ) and for capacity below 50 MW to the distribution grid. There are some exemptions to this rule since there are some parks with installed capacity larger than 50 MW connected to the distribution grid at . This cri- terion is not in the but in an agreement between and EDP. It is the through its General of Geology and Energy (DGGE) who decides on the access to the grid. and EDP are technical advisors to the Ministry but it is the Ministry who takes the decision. Both and EDP, in the evaluation of available capacity to connect a new producer which they send to the Ministry, can state the lack of capacity as a reason to deny a connection request. The Ministry do not use to question these evaluations. The Laws regulating the connection to the grid are DL 312/2001, DL 68/2002 and DL 172/2006. The authorization of installations for the production of electric power is, according to annex I in DL 168/99, responsibility of the DGGE. The will decide when the installa- tions have an installed capacity larger than 1 MW. Otherwise, the Secretary General will decide. There is a continuous interaction between DGGE, and EDP. They inform each other about available capacity in the grid, new connection points, and applications for capacity. The fact that and EDP were a single entity years ago makes the exchange of in- formation between them a natural part in their activity. EDP has more resources available for the evaluation of applications for capa- city made by new producers since there are more such applications to the distribution grid than to the transmission grid (see Table 2-1). 2.4Obligations of companies regarding The DL 312/2001 removed the previous constraint in the 168/99 and previously in the 189/88 imposed to the maximum installed capacity as of the short-circuit capacity of the network at the connection point. However, EDP maintains the technical criteria, as for instance limits in the capacity to connect, defined in the DL 168/99 for connection to the distribution grid. After the payment for wind power defined in the DL 168/99 was increased through the DL 339-C/2001, applications for a total capacity of approximately 7,000 MW were sent to the DGGE. Since these applications amounted for a capacity much larger than the political target of 3,750 MW by 2010, the DGGE announcedTPF35FPT that no more applications for wind power, biomass or photovoltaic were going to be evaluated by the DGGE. The allocation of capacity is done by the Ministry through the DGGE, not directly by the TSO, , or the DSO, EDP. The DGGE takes applications for PVI (see Section 2.3) regarding capa- city for the connection to the grid every fourth month getting a certain fee in order to administrate the applications. It is the DGGE who decides where the different installations for power production are to be connected, that is based on the technical report done by the grid operator. When several project developers want to connect their installations at the same point, it is the DGGE who decides how to allocate the available capacity to the different project developers. The capacity for the connection of new wind power farms was during the first stage of the wind power development allocated by the so called prorata method. This means that if there was a capa- city available of 100 MW at the connection point and there were two project developers willing to connect 100 MW each then they got a capacity of 50 MW each. After the prorata method the Government opened a tender pro- cedure for wind power capacity on February 2005, projects partici- pating in the tender procedure had to be sent to the DGGE by January 2006. The DL 33-A/2005, in its article 8, defines more close- ly the criteria to apply for the allocation of capacity through the 35TP PT Despacho 7619-A/2007, tender procedure that was first established in the DL 312/2001 article 14. The detailed selection criteria in the tender procedure were established by the through its . The tender procedure for wind power was divided in two different phases, phase A with a total capacity of 800 MW to be extended to 1,000 MW and with overcapacity of up to 1,200 MW and phase B of 400 MW to be extended to 500 MW and with overcapacity of up to 600 MW. The first phase is concluded and the second phase is being handled at the time, 2007. Another tender pro- cedure has been done for biomass and it is possible that in the future even a tender procedure for photovoltaic energy is opened. The tender procedure had four main selection criteria: discount on the feed-in tariff, employment creation, technical requirements, and contribution to the research fond. Project developers could offer a discount to be applied to the feed-in tariff defined in the DL 33-A/2005. The selection criteria for the tender procedure have been chang- ed since they were published the first time. That due to two main reasons, the first one that some imperfections were identified and the second one that the Government changed just two months after the tender procedure was published. The selection criteria in the tender procedure are considered by APREN as unfair since the requirements for phase A and phase B are quite different. An example of such difference is that if in the phase A a contribution to the research fond of 35 M is expected where the capacity to be allocated is that phase A is 800 MW plus 200 and the requirement for phase B is also 35 M even though the capacity to allocated in that phase B is much lower than in phase B, namely of 400 MW plus 100 MW. This means that for phase A, the contribution to the research fond is equivalent to a discount in the feed-in tariff of about while for phase B it implies a reduction of . Those projects which obtain 75 points in the four areas will be selected. Furthermore there is a delay of nine months between phase A and phase B which makes projects in phase B less profit- able than projects in phase A since the feed-in tariff decreases with time as described in Section 2.2.1. 36TP PT Concurso para atribução de capacidad de injecção de potência na rede do sistema eléctrico de serviço público e pontos de recepção associados para energia eléctrica produzida em centrais eólicas, =WebSiteMenu There are some differences in the legislation regulating power production in the ordinary regime and the legislation regulating power production in the special regime. The main difference is that producers in the special regime are treated by the TSO more as a group since they are many more than the number of producers in the ordinary regime. Another difference is that can accelerate the construction of for example substations and lines in the case of lack of capacity for the connection of producers in the ordinary regime while this is not done with producers in the special regime since they are so many. However, the main principle that new pro- ducers can be connected only when there is capacity at the connec- tion point is the same. The new decree of law for the special regime DL 225/2007 estab- lishes in its article 3 the possibility for wind power farms with wind turbines able to stand voltage dips to have an overcapacity of at the connection point. The limit in the electric power that can be injected at the connection point is the original capacity limit with- out taking into account the overcapacity. The Ministry was already applying that criterion even before it was stated in the legislation. In case of conflicts between the project developer and or EDP regarding available capacity in the connection point, it is the DGGE who decides. 2.4.2Priority Access for Renewable Electricity Producers In there is the implicit assumption that installed power plants have priority over newcomers which is rather different than the Spanish approach. By using this pre-emptive approach, the poten- tial for the occurrence of technical restrictions is much smaller in than in . During the licensing process for new generation, whether re- newable or conventional, to the transmission grid, is asked about the ability of the network to transport the energy of the new unit(s). If the installation of a new generator is expected to lead to overloads which would require lowering the production of an existing generator, would state that the network cannot accommodate the new entrant and that new investment in the transport infra- structure is needed before the license is granted. If new investments are needed, does an assessment of the part of the new invest- ment directly caused by the new generation and the part correspond- ing to a general improvement of the transport network. The Portuguese TSO, , has not experienced yet (October 2007) the need to restrict wind power production. However, the TSO is concerned about the possibility to have in the future some occasions where the wind power production will be greater than the existing electricity consumption. The restriction in that case will not come from the network but from the system power balance. In the last licensing procedure by means of a tender procedure, see Section 2.4.1, it has been included the possibility for the system operator to require the reduction of wind power during not more than 50 hours per year. power producers will not receive any compensation for these reductions. Solar power, waves and other renewable electricity production have almost no impact in the Portuguese system. Anyway, they are entitled to produce the licensed power without being interrupted. 2.4.3Reservation of Transmission Capacity According to article 12 in DL 312/2001, applications on connection point that cannot be directly approved due to lack of transmission capacity in the grid, can reserve transmission capacity until the con- struction of the installations included in the plans for the develop- ment of the transmission and the distribution grid are carried out. To reserve capacity a deposit has to be handed in by the developer to the DGGE (see Section 2.3). According to article 7 in DL 312/2001, DGGE can give connec- tion point even when there is not available capacity at the moment if an agreement is reached between the TSO or the DSO and the project developer in order to accelerate the needed reinforcement. In that case the project developer has to pay the additional costs due to the acceleration of the construction of the installations necessary for the reinforcement. When the project developer pays these costs then no deposit is required to reserve that capacity. If no agree- ment is reached then it is the DGGE who decides the amount of the costs to be paid by the promoter and the TSO or the DSO respectively. 2.5Costs associated to the Connection to the In this Section it is described how the different costs associated to the connection to the grid, such as costs for connection installations and upgrades in the distribution or transmission grid are treated in . 2.5.1Costs for the Connection Installations All costs associated to the connecting installations such as line and transformer between the production installation and the connec- ting point are to be paid by the project developer. In the legislation allows the existence of power lines owned by the producer. This is the case with some power lines of connecting wind parks to the grid in . The reason for that is that according to the cannot operate and maintain any power line with a voltage level below . At the same time the distribution company, EDP, does not want to own those lines since there are no in the area so the owner of the wind farm has to operate and maintain those power lines. If the power lines were to be owned by the distribution company EDP then they have to maintain the line also. Regarding cost sharing between different project developers to connect to the transmission grid, there is no law defining the cri- terion to follow even thought this problem might come up. According to EDP new producers who take benefit of already existing connecting installations to the distribution grid, should pay proportional to their capacity if they are connected within 5 years after the connecting installations were build. The installations for connecting the wind farm to the grid are to be paid by the project developers. In the case of lines if there come consumers after the producers have built the line they can be con- nected to the line and EDP does not pay anything to the producer. In the DL 312/2001 it is written that there is a period of time within which if a new producer connects to the line that other developer has paid then costs for the line have to be shared. 2.5.2Costs for Reinforcement of the Transmission Reinforcement of the transmission grid are socialized and financed through the tariff paid by consumers. Plans for the development of the transmission grid are developed every second year. The different elements of the transmission grid have different aims. estimated in which proportion each element contributes to the different aims such as implementation of renewable production to the system, higher degree of interconnection between the lines and so on. There is no mathematical model used to make the assignation of the different shares. The last plan for the development of the transmission grid, Trans- mission Plan for 2006–2011, concluded in , contains an investment of 190 M due to RES generation. In that budget the installation for connecting the parks to the grid are not included since they are to be paid by the project developers. The main installations to be introduced in the transmission system in order to achieve the political target for wind power in are shown in Figure 2-6 in color. Figure 2-6 investment projects in the Portuguese Transmission grid until 2010, totally or partly induced by the political target for electricity production based on renewable energies (color). Source: RENTPF37FPT. 37TP Goals for Renewable Generation in . An Organizational and from the point of view of the Operator2, Cigré 2006. 2.5.3Costs for Reinforcement of the Distribution When connecting to the distribution grid if reinforcements of the grid are needed then the project developer has to pay them even if EDP gets some benefit from the reinforcement. EDP tries to not make agreements with different project developers so that they cannot complain about unfair treatment. 2.6Costs and Obligations Related to Measurement Costs associated to measurement for generating units connected to the high voltage grid can be neglected. When it comes to small units connected to the low voltage grid there are no requirements on hourly measurement. Producers do not pay any tariffs for using neither the distribution grid nor the transmission grid. This has always been like this in and has nothing to do with the political target of increasing renewable electricity production. 2.8Rights and Obligations regarding Real-Time Operation The DL 168/99 establishes in its article 22 that grid companies have the obligation to buy the produced electricity by producers in the special regime. It is EDPSU who buys the electricity from the special regime. farms installed according to the call for capacity might be disconnected up to 50 hours without being paid. All wind parks might be disconnected when the security of the system is on danger. At the moment in there is no obligation for the wind producers to send their planned production to . In the tender procedure it was a positive factor but not a requisite. There is how- ever a discussion to make projections obligatory for farms with an installed capacity over 10 MW. Another very important issue regarding technical requirements is the performance during voltage dips. in and REE in made a study together for 2010 assuming that the targets for installed wind power capacity where to be fulfilled in both countries. turbines are newer in than in , accord- ing to the study in it was sufficient that new farms had resistance to voltage dips while in it was necessary to modern- ize of installed capacity. Those requirements were also based on the assumption that the capacity in the interconnection between and was increased but since that can take a long time REE and decide to impose a common target of of in- stalled capacity with resistance to voltage dips in both countries. This requirement has not been transposed into any in yet. In there are such requirements. It is important to note that periods with low consumption, good wind conditions and hydro resources are going to be a problem for and and wind farms are going to need to reduce their production then. That problem would not take place if there was a much larger interconnection capacity with . General renewable Energy Promotion Scheme Renewable electricity producers in are paid according to a feed-in tariff payment scheme. The feed-in tariff level for wind power year 2006 was 9.28 c/kWh. However, this payment applies only for wind power producers connected before year 2005. power producers installed after 2005 will receive a feed-in tariff of about 7.5 c/kWh. factors for the development of the wind power sector in The key factors behind the great development of the wind power sector in have been a stable investment environment by means of fixed regulated feed-in tariffs, political stability regard- ing the support to renewable power production, and expansion of the grid in line with the political target for wind power. Are there any size limits in the regulation for renewable electricity production? There are capacity limits for the connection to the transmission grid and the distribution grid. Installations with an installed capacity larger than 50 MW are typically connected to the trans- mission grid (130–) while installations with installed capa- city below 50 MW are connected to the distribution grid. There are some specific requirements for renewable electricity pro- ducers regarding the capacity that they can connect to the grid. For example the capacity of installations connected to the low voltage grid cannot exceed of the grids short-circuit capacity at that point and not be larger than 100 kW. For the connection to higher voltage levels the capacity of the installation cannot exceed of the grids short-circuit capacity at that point. producers do not pay any tariffs for using the grid. This has always been like that in and the same applies for conventional power producers and for power producers using renewable energy sources. Therefore, this issue has not been the factor that has triggered the development of the wind power sector in . In there is only one distribution company, EDP. It is regulated ex-ante in the legislation the income that EDP receives every year. This is financed by the grid tariffs paid by all agents buying electric power. Project developers have to pay for the construction of the power line, transformer and all other necessary installations for the con- nection to the grid. There is no difference in this matter between conventional power producers and power producers using re- newable energy sources. In practice, costs for reinforcement in the transmission grid are socialized and paid by consumers by means of network tariffs while costs for reinforcement in the distribution grid are mostly paid by the project developer. Priority access for renewable electricity production In there is the implicit assumption that installed power plants have priority over newcomers independently of the energy source used. So far it has not been necessary to curtail wind power production but the last tender procedure for allocating connec- tion capacity allows the Portuguese TSO to curtail wind power producers up to 50 hours without giving them any compensation. In the power lines within a generating installation and from the installation to the connection point can be built by the producer himself without needing to establish a network com- pany for this purpose. The producer does not have the obligation to connect third-parties to these power lines. There is no obligation on hourly measurement for producers connected to the low voltage grid (<1 kV). Application procedures are well described in as well as the deadlines associated to different steps of the application pro- cedure. The General of Energy and Geology gives the access permits and is, at the same time, responsible for deciding on conflicts between project developers and grid companies re- garding for example connection points. capacity for connection to the grid is allocated by the General of Geology and Energy. For wind power two different methods for the allocation have been used. Firstly a pro- rate method (up to 2005) and later (after 2005) a tender proce- dure. The selection criteria in the tender procedure have been mainly four: discount on the feed-in tariff established in the 2005 legislation (7.5 c/kWh), employment creation, technical requirements, and contribution to the research fond. There is now legal requirement on fault-ride-through yet for wind turbines in but this issue is currently being discussed and regulation in this matter is expected. has a long successful history of developing renewable power generation. A look at the statistics reveals the extent to which the different renewable energy technologies are used in and the dynamic nature of its development, see Table 3-1. Table 3-1: Development of electricity production from renewable energy as share of total electricity consumption in from 1998 to In 2006, (in total ) of the total electricity consump- tion in was generated by renewable energy. Figure 3-1 shows that in 2006 about (~30 TWh) of the renewable energy generated came from wind power. 38TP PT Erneuerbare Energien in – nationale und internationale Entwicklung, 2007, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), pdf/broschuere_ee_zahlen.pdf. Figure 3-1: Renewable energy generation by source, 2006TPF39FPT Share of Renewable Electricity Generation Bio waste; 4, gas; 2, Bio gas; 7, Biomass (liquid); 2, Biomass (solid); 9, Photovoltaic; 2, Table 3-2: Development of installed capacity by source from 1990 to 2006. = not available) 39TP PT ibid.