Cogeneration

Cogeneration is defined as a process of production and combined use of electricity and heat, providing the use of more than 70% of the thermal energy from the fuels used in this process.

When we have a system producing three different forms of Energy, using a single fuel, we call it Trigeneration. Starting from a primary energy source, the Trigeneration system simultaneously produces electrical energy, thermal energy in the form of heat and thermal energy in the form of cold.

Cogeneration installations, located close to installations that consume thermal and electrical energy, reflect the advantages of decentralized production, allowing, on the one hand, the suppression of losses in the transport and distribution of energy and, on the other hand, providing a increase in the efficiency of the conversion of primary energy into final energy, which makes this technology, in effect, the most efficient system of electricity production and that cogeneration plants play a fundamental role in the global electroproduction system that must be given special attention. Alongside this, it is also worth mentioning the reduction of CO2 emissions, since it provides the same final energy with a lower consumption of primary energy, which is an objective in the public policies of the EU countries.

Directive 2012/27/EU, of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 25 October 2012, reinforced the provisions of Directive 2004/8/EC, of ​​the European Parliament and of the Council, of 11 February 2004, on the promotion of cogeneration based on the demand for useful heat in the internal energy market, as well as those of Directive 2006/32/EC, of ​​the European Parliament and of the Council, of April 5, 2006, in the sense of promoting high-energy cogeneration efficiency up to certain power limits (less than 20 MW), encouraging decentralized energy production.

The aforementioned directive was transposed by Decree-Law no. 68-A/2015, of April 30, rectified by the Declaration of Rectification no. 23/2010, of March 25, amended by Law No. 19/2010, of August 23, and establish the discipline of production activity in cogeneration. Directive no. 2004/8/EC had been transposed into the domestic legal system by the aforementioned Decree-Law no. 23/2010, of 25 March, with the amendments introduced by Law no. 19/2010, of 23 of August.

Under Directive 2012/27/EU and in accordance with Decree-Law No. 68-A/2015, of April 30, this Directorate-General is responsible for producing a set of reports related to this matter, namely the publication of an analysis of the National Potential for High Efficiency Cogeneration . Previously, under Directive 2004/8/CE, a study was also carried out to analyze the National Potential for High Efficiency Cogeneration.

Promoting the valorization of forest biomass has been a central theme in national and European strategic energy and forestry policies. The forest in Portugal plays a very important role in society and in the national economy. Over more than a decade, several strategies and legislative diplomas have been developed with the objective of reducing the incidence of fires in the national territory, some of which encouraging a greater use of forest biomass, including residues from forest exploitation and other currently underutilized types of biomass, for energy recovery and thus encourage sustainable management and planning of the territory, as well as the preservation of forest areas, simultaneously contributing to the improvement of their economic sustainability and to the prevention of fires.

The involvement of Municipalities or Intermunicipal Communities in solutions for the collection and valorization of biomass is very important. In this sense, Decree-Law nº 64/2017, of June 12, was published, which defined a special and extraordinary framework for the installation and operation, by municipalities, or by their decision, by communities or intermunicipal associations of municipalities for specific purposes , new forest biomass recovery plants, as well as support and incentive measures to ensure their implementation.

The use of biomass for energy purposes has gained greater relevance within the scope of our PNEC 2030, making it even more important to maximize the potential of this resource through the implementation of more efficient solutions for the sustainable use of biomass, which also contribute to the decarbonisation of consumption thermal.

Thus, Decree-Law No. 120/2019, of August 22, was published, which amends Decree-Law No. 64/2017, of June 12 and reformulates the special and extraordinary regime for the installation and operation of new installations for the valorization of forest biomass, limiting the scope of application of this new regime to biomass power plants with the production of electrical and thermal energy, with production in cogeneration or trigeneration.

Recently, Ordinance n.º 410/2019, of December 27, was published, which establishes the conditions for the remuneration supplements to be foreseen under Decree-Law n.º 64/2017, of June 1, in its current wording.

Finally, it should be noted that work is currently underway to transpose Directive (EU) 2018/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018, which amends Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency.