New rules for the solar sector have gone into force in Portugal. According to Law 72/2022, the developers that won Portugal’s solar auctions in 2019, 2020 and 2021 will see their remuneration go up in line with inflation.

In 2019, French developer Akuo won a project with a solar tariff of €0.0147 ($0.014)/kWh. This marked a new world record at the time. In 2020, the record was broken again, with a winning bid of $0.0132/kWh.

The Portuguese government will also introduce a 12-month extension of the period in which selected projects can sell electricity at spot market prices, instead of the awarded tariff. The law says that the “financing of these projects was unfeasible,” due to the war in Ukraine, the scarcity of raw materials, rising equipment prices, and global inflation.

Other measures introduced promise to speed up solar installations in the country. The licensing of projects will be simplified, with projects below 1 MW of capacity to be exempted from licensing decisions. Instead, they will only be subject to a control procedure at the municipal level.

Projects bigger than 1 MW will no longer have to submit construction feasibility studies. Project owners should receive answers within eight to 30 days after the submission of paperwork. The local authorities will also be compensated at a rate of €13,500 per megawatt of solar installed in their area. The government’s environmental fund will pay for the incentive from Jan. 1, 2023.