By Andrea Hargraves 
The electrical system has become dependent on Spain since the closure of the Sens and Peugeot thermoelectric plants
The Portuguese economy has become new externally dependent: it needs Spain to avoid dangerous blackouts in the electrical system. Although it was a very rainy year – excellent for water production in dams – 2023 was the second worst year on record in the electricity trade balance: €909 million of net imports. During the last three years, the purchase and sale of electricity in Spain recorded a negative balance of 3.279 million euros, equivalent to the money pumped by the state to save the accounts of TAP.
The closure of the Bigo and Sens coal plants, in 2020 and 2021, is the main explanation for the lack of control over imports. “Together these plants represented almost 2 gigawatts of power, which was a lot of power,” says João Bernardo, former Director General of Energy and Geology. “To replace this energy, we will need seven gigawatts of solar energy,” estimates the current head of the Board of Directors of the Biomass Energy Center.
So isn't GW always the same thing? In computational abstraction, yes; Actually, of course not. Intermittent electricity sources, such as wind and solar, cannot completely replace the original electricity “factories” with human-controlled processes, namely thermal electric power plants, using coal or natural gas. “If we continue to invest in intermittent energy, we will have to obtain much more energy than we need,” João Bernardo concludes.
Wind and photovoltaic power plants “do not give us what we need, and they often do not match our hours of consumption.” To face this reality, more investment is needed, in batteries or dams that pump water to be boosted again during peak hours. “We always have to store or install more. When we don’t have it, we import it,” sums up the former Energy Director General, who held this position between 2018 and 2023.
Wind farms in the ocean would be a 'total disaster'
It turns out that consumers are the ones who support investments in the electrical system, through political support included in their monthly electricity bills. In June, the Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE) decreed that this component of monthly bills for households and businesses would be increased to offset “the cost burden of electricity purchased from producers with guaranteed wages – renewables and cogeneration.” In Deco's calculations, this increase subjected 5.5 million Portuguese to a 13% increase in monthly expenses.
In 2023, political subsidies included in the invoices amount to €1,840 million. The lion's share went to paying 1.236 million (67%) to wind farms that are entitled, by contract, to sell all the energy they produce to the grid, even if there is no need for the community; With a guaranteed value, in the same contract, well above the market.
The Portuguese electrical system provides 24 GW of installed power. This power is multiplied by five by what the Portuguese market absorbs during free hours (4.5 GW); It continues to exceed the peak consumption recorded during peak hours (9.2 gigawatts). It would be more than enough, if Portugal had not violated the balance between fixed energy sources, controlled by humans, and sources that depend on the moods of nature. “Despite this monstrous excess capacity, we are importing electricity like never before,” says Clemente Pedro Nunes, retired energy professor at the Instituto Tecnologia Superiore.
The government will now decide whether consumers will bear new policy subsidies for intermittent renewable energy plants. “I hope oceanic wind farms don't come forward, because that would be a complete disaster. “Any political tariff imposed today on wind or solar energy is complete nonsense, because in times when there is too much wind and too much sun, the country no longer needs electricity.” “, says this expert.