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Solar glossary

Name: Minho Solar
Address: Ponte de Lima, PT
Telephone: +351 964 881 340

Every term you will meet in a quote, a contract or on the DGEG portal, explained in a sentence or two, with the Portuguese term beside the English one.

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24 terms

kWp (kilowatt peak): The power of the panels under standard test conditions. It is the size of a system, and the number to divide the price by: €6,600 for 4.8 kWp is €1,375 per kWp.
kWh (kilowatt hour): A unit of energy: what a 1 kW appliance uses in an hour. Your bill charges per kWh, and production is counted in kWh too.
Yield per kWpprodução por kWp: The kWh that 1 kWp produces in a year in a given place. PVGIS gives 1,349 in Melgaço and 1,722 in Faro, facing south at 35°.
PVGIS: The European Commission's free solar calculator (Joint Research Centre). It estimates a system's production at any address from satellite data.
Direction and tiltorientação e inclinação: Which way the panels face and at what angle. In Ponte de Lima at 35°, PVGIS gives 1,412 kWh per kWp facing south, 1,137 west and 1,108 east.
Inverterinversor: Turns the direct current from the panels into the alternating current your home uses. A string inverter serves a row of panels, microinverters sit under each panel, and a hybrid inverter also manages a battery.
Hybrid inverterinversor híbrido: An inverter that also charges and discharges a battery. With a battery it can keep running when the grid fails, unlike string and microinverter systems, which stop (ADENE and DGEG).
Usable battery capacitycapacidade útil: The kWh of a battery you can actually use. ADENE and DGEG advise keeping most batteries between about 20% and 80% of charge, so a 10 kWh battery gives about 6 kWh.
Self consumptionautoconsumo: Using the electricity you produce. Without a battery, households use 20 to 40% of their production (Fraunhofer ISE); with one, typically double.
Surplusexcedente: The production you do not use, which goes to the grid. With a contract with a retailer it is sold, at about €0.05 per kWh on a fixed price in 2026. Up to €1,000 a year it is outside IRS.
UPAC: Unidade de Produção para Autoconsumo, a self consumption production unit: a system that produces mainly for the home's own use. It is the usual case for houses, under Decreto‑Lei n.º 15/2022.
UPP: Unidade de Pequena Produção, a small production unit: the former regime for selling all production to the grid, under Decreto‑Lei n.º 162/2019, replaced in 2022.
Collective self consumptionautoconsumo coletivo: Self consumption shared between neighbours, in a building or in a renewable energy community, under rules set by ERSE.
Prior noticemera comunicação prévia: The registration of a system above 700 W and up to 30 kW on the DGEG portal, made by the installing technician or designer in the owner's name, before installation. It is free.
DGEG: Direção-Geral de Energia e Geologia, the government department where self consumption systems are registered. It is not the regulator; that is ERSE.
ERSE: Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos, the energy regulator. It sets the rules for self consumption, metering and the surplus.
E‑REDES: The company that runs the electricity distribution network in most of mainland Portugal. It assigns the production CPE and installs meters.
CPE: Código de Ponto de Entrega, the delivery point code: it identifies your connection to the grid and is printed on your bill. A production system gets its own production CPE.
Production metercontador de produção: A meter that counts what your system produces. ERSE makes it mandatory above 4 kW of installed power.
Retailercomercializador: The company that sells you electricity, and that can buy your surplus under a contract.
Installation entity and responsible technicianentidade instaladora, técnico responsável: The accredited company or technician who may install the system. ERSE asks owners to confirm the accreditation, and the DGEG registration needs the technician's number.
Civil liability insuranceseguro de responsabilidade civil: Insurance that covers damage the system could cause to others. The ADENE and DGEG guide lists it as needed for a registered system.
Paybackretorno do investimento: The years a system takes to pay back what it cost: the price divided by the yearly saving. ADENE and DGEG consider a payback under 7 years acceptable.
VATIVA: Value added tax: 23% on home solar systems since 1 July 2025, when the 6% rate ended.

How it works

Definitions follow the ERSE self consumption FAQ and the ADENE and DGEG practical guide. Where a term has a legal meaning, the definition says which law.

Sources

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