“Portugal must accelerate the development of renewable energy projects”

Portugal’s goal is to generate at least 80% of its energy from renewable sources such as solar, wind or water by 2026. Finding solutions and defining strategies to achieve carbon neutrality goals is the goal of the international EDP event. The Business Summit 2024 will return to Lisbon on March 7 in a digital format for the whole world, with a program that will feature renowned national and international speakers. In anticipation of this event, Correio da Mañan spoke with Vera Pinto Pereira, Executive Administrator of the EDP, about the challenges of the energy transition.

EDP ​​has set 2040 as the deadline to become carbon neutral. How to manage a project of this scale?
What challenges do we need to overcome to achieve this? Portugal, Europe and the world have a unique opportunity to take control of the alarming consequences of climate change. On this front, the type of energy sources we use on a daily basis is critical. We cannot continue to use fossil fuels as before and we must urgently replace them with renewable, inexhaustible and carbon-free sources. But beyond mitigating climate change, the energy transition to sustainable resources opens up a range of opportunities for economies, businesses and families.

Vera Pinto Pereira, executive administrator of the EDP, recalls that “we were the first country to commit to achieving carbon neutrality in 2050.”

What are these possibilities?

I’ll start with the financial ones. There is no doubt that greater penetration of renewable electricity will lead to lower costs for consumers as we move away from imported fossil fuels to locally produced renewable electricity. In addition, the European Union estimates that the industry will create around 30 million jobs in Europe, with the potential to create supply chains in countries such as Portugal, which has been a pioneer in the sector.

Is a large investment required to achieve this?
At EDP we consider this decade to be decisive. We know we must lead by example, which is why we have committed to investing €25 billion in the energy transition by 2026, doubling installed renewable energy capacity and investing in wind, solar, energy storage and new technologies such as cleantech. hydrogen. At the same time, we are closing the plants where we produced electricity from coal – in Portugal we did this at the beginning of 2021 – and by the end of the decade we want to be 100% green, using only water. sun and wind to produce the electricity we produce in the four regions of the world in which we are located. The challenges I would identify are the need to accelerate the pace and work in partnership – companies, public and private organizations and clients – to achieve ambitious decarbonization goals.

Renewable energy sources play a central role. How do we make the leap from 80% to 100%?
The goal is ambitious, but it seems feasible to us. In January alone, this goal was already achieved: 81% of production comes from renewable sources. We know that it was a very positive month with a lot of rain, which allowed for increased water production and that, despite there being little wind to produce wind power, one day in January actually broke the record for wind power production in Portugal. . In order for the rate of renewable energy production to remain at this level, and since we know that there will not always be a lot of rain or wind, Portugal must accelerate the development of renewable energy projects.

Renewable energy sources are crucial for the reindustrialization of Europe and the country.
Portugal knows how to be a pioneer in this sector and I believe it has all the conditions to continue to be part of European leadership. We were the first country to commit to carbon neutrality by 2050, and we’ve even accelerated that goal to 2045. More than 20 years ago, EDP invested in wind energy in Portugal, making the country one of the European leaders in the initial promotion of this goal. technologies . About 10 years ago, EDP tested the stability of a floating wind turbine off Povoa do Varzim and years later installed the first semi-submersible farm on the European coast in Viana do Castelo, a project that is still in use today. world flag.

Will this change lead to employment outcomes?
If, on the one hand, mining-related industries emerge that are potentially affected by the energy transition, the labor market will undergo a transformation with the creation of a large number of new jobs and specialized training. In Portugal, McKinsey estimates that 300 thousand new jobs will be created in the short term, namely in the sectors of energy, transport, construction, industry, agriculture, waste management and forestry, without leaving aside vocational retraining and training. This is an opportunity that we must know how to take advantage of.

Decentralized energy production and energy communities are becoming increasingly important along this path. Are there still problems in implementing these projects, especially in terms of licensing?
While we still believe that the development and adoption of these communities could happen more quickly given the country’s potential and the demand for businesses and families, it is important to note that in recent months we have felt that these processes are finally starting to come together. we will be able to put them into operation in the short to medium term and share the benefits of these communities with the thousands of customers who wanted to be part of these projects. Energy communities are a true example of what the EDP advocates as a just energy transition: by harnessing the sun’s inexhaustible energy, it is possible to increase the production of renewable energy, make our consumption more sustainable, reduce energy costs, and share these benefits with others. families or businesses that don’t have the space to install their own solar panels.

EDP ​​has an extensive history of winning long-term energy contracts, especially with multinational companies such as Google or Amazon. What benefits do these contracts present to companies pursuing the energy transition?
One of the most comprehensive measures from an economic, environmental point of view and to improve ESG criteria are energy purchase contracts that companies can enter into with energy producers and traders. In these contracts, which vary in duration, the consumer is guaranteed a fixed price for the contracted energy, reducing their exposure to market volatility. This option also results in a significant reduction in a company’s carbon footprint, especially those that have large energy requirements in their production systems. For EDP, long-term contracts allow us to continue to develop renewable energy projects with assurance of stability, and our track record of contracting approximately 9 GW of energy over the long term proves the success of these contracts.