Name / António Brito / Session / 4
Company / EDP Distribuição Energia, S.A. / Block / 1
Address / Rua do Brasil, 1 / Question n° / 1
3 030 – 075 Coimbra Portugal / Language used on the floor / English
Phone / + 351 239 00 2151 / Accompanying visuals on file ? / yes
e-mail /
Network energy efficiency – the connection of wind plants to the grid in the portuguese legislation
Usually the wind plants are built in far away places, most of the times on top of the hills. The investors choose locations where the wind has more intensity, which are far from the consumption of energy. To connect these isolated wind plants to the grid it is necessary to construct long lines, which causes losses of energy.
The system can be more efficient if the wind plants are placed nearer to the loads. The question raised is that these places are less windy, therefore less interesting to the investors.
The portuguese legislation (Decree-Law 339-C/2001) stimulates the construction of wind plants nearer to the loads, by means of the parameter Z, that multiplies the environment remuneration. This parameter has the following different values, according to the hours of use of the declared power:
· For the energy produced in the first 2 000 hours...Z=1,70
· For the energy produced between 2 000 and 2 200 hours...Z=1,30
· For the energy produced between 2 200 and 2 400 hours...Z=0,95
· For the energy produced between 2 400 and 2 600 hours...Z= 0,65
· For the energy produced above 2 600 hours... Z=0,40
If the use of the declared power is greater than 2 200 hours, the remuneration will begin to decrease. The purpose of this method is to stimulate the construction of wind plants near the loads and to prevent the installation of these plants on hilltops, which may be environmentally preserved.
This procedure contributes to the network efficiency because the length of the lines that interconnect the wind plants to the grid is shortened, and so it is obtained a decrease in the losses.