Former Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE) President Jorge Vasconcelos says it is “absolutely necessary” to modernize the transmission and distribution networks as the current situation blocks renewable energy investment.
He argues that investment in the nation’s electrical grid is “absolutely fundamental” to speed up decarbonization and continue to operate the system safely without the risk of instability or possible service outages.
In an interview with Antena 1 and Jornal de Negócios published this Saturday, Jorge Vasconcelos laments the lack of investment in improving and expanding networks. And he adds: “The proof of this is that today we have a list of investors who are ready to build renewable energy power plants in our country without any subsidies, and they are not authorized to do this because there is no network capacity.”
Jorge Vasconcelos emphasizes that this type of investment is private. “We don’t need public money to modernize our energy system,” he said in an interview, stressing that investment in electricity networks is a “strategic decision” that depends only on Portugal and not on the European Union.
In an interview, he leaves a message: “please, let’s start, let’s restart private investment in the electricity grid.”
According to the official, the operators remain “hostages of the organization model of the electricity sector of the past” and have not prepared the networks to absorb the large capacity of new electricity generation resources.
The former ERSE president also described a return to regulated gas and electricity rates as a “good option.”
“I advise all citizens to accept (a regulated tariff), because under these conditions, with these market prices, it is he who guarantees more stable and more favorable conditions for natural gas and electricity,” he said.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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