4
1.1 SuStainable energy tranSition aS a reSponSe
to an accountability criSiS
In terms of national performance on energy transitions, few countries are
more remarkable than Portugal. Already among Europe’s leaders on
renewable energy, its carbon mitigation from 2017 to 2018 was 9 per
cent, the highest rate on the continent and over thrice the European average.
1
This small and relatively isolated country bordering Spain in the
western part of the Iberian Peninsula with ten million residents has, thus,
exceeded expectations.
Solar energy uptake in Portugal poses a surprising paradox: despite
Portugal’s leadership on renewable energy in the progressive energy policy
context of Europe, with strong wind and hydro power assets and some of
the continent’s best solar irradiation conditions for cost-competitive lowcarbon generation (Krajačić et al. 2011), till 2019, it has only installed
modest solar energy capacity. Combined with no fossil fuel assets to speak
of as an importer of coal, oil and natural gas, it would seem a no-brainer
for Portugal to capitalise on remarkable global decreases in the price of
solar energy infrastructure and promote a rapid solar uptake to move
towards a largely decarbonised energy sector (Fortes et al. 2019).
Empirical research and mainstream media reports have unearthed
numerous barriers for solar energy uptake, such as the lack of policy visibility, a restrictive regulatory framework, limited licences, grid constraints
and limited credit access. These explain the relatively modest increases in
installed solar capacity and surface some narratives of frustration. Emerging
studies and reports, most notably Portugal’s National Energy and Climate
Plan, convey a sense that eventually things will work themselves out and
solar projects will increasingly go ahead (Coelho et al. 2017), especially at
utility scale, meaning in the multi-million dollar range. There has been
insufficient transmission grid capacity for the national energy regulator to
allow very many new solar installation in the locations with highest irradiation down south; till 2019, guidelines on how existing grid capacity should
be allocated were unclear; and when transparent guidelines did emerge it
was into a context with a little informed public debate on such crucial
priorities regarding the country’s energy future and low-carbon transition
1
Eurostat news release 81/2019, dated 08.05.2019. Accessed 24.05.2019 at https://
ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/9779945/8-08052019-AP-EN.
pdf/9594d125-9163-446c-b650-b2b00c531d2b.
S. SAREEN
1.1 SuStainable energy tranSition aS a reSponSe
to an accountability criSiS
In terms of national performance on energy transitions, few countries are
more remarkable than Portugal. Already among Europe’s leaders on
renewable energy, its carbon mitigation from 2017 to 2018 was 9 per
cent, the highest rate on the continent and over thrice the European average.
1
This small and relatively isolated country bordering Spain in the
western part of the Iberian Peninsula with ten million residents has, thus,
exceeded expectations.
Solar energy uptake in Portugal poses a surprising paradox: despite
Portugal’s leadership on renewable energy in the progressive energy policy
context of Europe, with strong wind and hydro power assets and some of
the continent’s best solar irradiation conditions for cost-competitive lowcarbon generation (Krajačić et al. 2011), till 2019, it has only installed
modest solar energy capacity. Combined with no fossil fuel assets to speak
of as an importer of coal, oil and natural gas, it would seem a no-brainer
for Portugal to capitalise on remarkable global decreases in the price of
solar energy infrastructure and promote a rapid solar uptake to move
towards a largely decarbonised energy sector (Fortes et al. 2019).
Empirical research and mainstream media reports have unearthed
numerous barriers for solar energy uptake, such as the lack of policy visibility, a restrictive regulatory framework, limited licences, grid constraints
and limited credit access. These explain the relatively modest increases in
installed solar capacity and surface some narratives of frustration. Emerging
studies and reports, most notably Portugal’s National Energy and Climate
Plan, convey a sense that eventually things will work themselves out and
solar projects will increasingly go ahead (Coelho et al. 2017), especially at
utility scale, meaning in the multi-million dollar range. There has been
insufficient transmission grid capacity for the national energy regulator to
allow very many new solar installation in the locations with highest irradiation down south; till 2019, guidelines on how existing grid capacity should
be allocated were unclear; and when transparent guidelines did emerge it
was into a context with a little informed public debate on such crucial
priorities regarding the country’s energy future and low-carbon transition
1
Eurostat news release 81/2019, dated 08.05.2019. Accessed 24.05.2019 at https://
ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/9779945/8-08052019-AP-EN.
pdf/9594d125-9163-446c-b650-b2b00c531d2b.
S. SAREEN