Addressing micro-generation in Portugal - Implementing effective technical and commercial solutions for network integration and market operation, according to new regulatory issues

The Energy End-use Efficiency and Energy Services Directive (ESD) [1] required EU Member States to submit their first National Energy Efficiency Action Plans (NEEAPs) by 2008. In his Plan, Portuguese Government stated the goal of achieving 165 MW of micro-generation installed capacity by the year of 2015, starting with 10 MW for 2008 and growing by a factor of 0,2 in each of the following 7 years. This paper presents the main operational/procedural, commercial and technical challenges for involved electricity market stakeholders, especially those concerning distribution operations, metering incumbent and commercial services. The micro-generation requirements and developments are in line with the main drivers and needs identified by EDP related to network evolution. This important subject is addressed by EDP innovative project – InovGrid [2] – which purpose is to design and implement the intelligent infrastructure responsible for smart metering, smart grids and smart integration of DER.