APREN Conference

The Annual Conference of APREN, ALER’s member, took place on October 9, 2018 at Fundação Oriente in Lisbon, under the topic “Market and Renewables“ and marked the 30th anniversary of the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association.

As in previous editions, it was attended by some of the leading specialists in renewable energy at national and international level and, for the first time, the afternoon panel was dedicated to the debate between representatives of the main parties with parliamentary seats. The event was also attended by the Minister of the Economy, Manuel Caldeira Cabral, and the Minister of the Environment, João Pedro Matos Fernandes.

The objective set by António Sá da Costa, president of APREN, is ambitious: to reach 100% renewable electricity in Portugal in the next 30 years. Sá da Costa says that in order to achieve this goal, renewable energy production must increase by an average of 1.4TWh per year, 2.3 times faster than recorded until now. "It is possible to get there but we have to radically change the current system. It is possible if governments want, because investors have already shown availability", he argued. The recipe for success includes more stability, more planning of the national electricity system and a different model of renewable remuneration, because according to Sá da Costa: "No one invests without remuneration."

It was also announced the winner of APREN Award 2018 - an initiative that aims to disclose, to the renewable electricity sector, academic dissertations carried out in Portuguese higher education institutions contributing to technology transfer and knowledge dissemination between research institutions and companies.