Let's begin with the figures. With an average of over 300 days of sunshine a year, Portugal is more than just another European country with an appealing climate for tourists and investors. It's also an ideal location for capturing solar energy, a fact that is well illustrated by the number of photovoltaic power plants dotted around the country, at companies and in private homes.
Photovoltaic self-consumption – which enables homeowners to generate their own energy – is a simple process that involves the installation of photovoltaic solar panels. This is the first step in achieving significant savings on your monthly electricity bill. Then, after having implemented a system for the balanced and programmed management of the use of household appliances – particularly high-consumption equipment such as washing machines, water heaters, heating devices and ovens – homeowners will then be able to produce their own energy for the supply of a considerable part of their family's daily needs. Of course, this requires the adequate combination of the number of panels, sunlight and the energy needs of each home.
Production will differ in accordance with the time of the both the year and the day. The period between midday and 4 p.m. is the most productive, especially between May and September, which are usually the months with the greatest number of sun hours, when the sky is almost always clear.
In neighbouring Spain, Galp is also testing self-consumption solutions within the scenario of a service station
The time is one of opportunity. Due to the pandemic and the confinement measures imposed during the period of state of emergency, our homes have simultaneously become a place for work, family and leisure. Social distancing has resulted in more meals at home, more appliances turned on during the day, and a general increase in energy consumption.
It is this scenario that has led to the emergence of EI - Energia Independente, a Galp group entity focused on the provision of solutions for electricity self-consumption through the installation of solar panels. This company has joined the Iberian market with an innovative technological platform consisting of the mapping of every rooftop in the Iberian Peninsula using satellite images and the identification of the most profitable, using big data analysis and predictive artificial intelligence models.
Subsequent to the reformulation, last year, of the legal provisions on self-consumption production units – with the aim of simplifying licensing and the rules – anyone can now produce their own electricity. To learn how to save, see the section below.
