Who We Are & What We Stand For

Our Commitment to Independence

We exist to give Portuguese homeowners access to objective, unconflicted analysis of whether solar photovoltaic systems make financial sense for their specific situation.

Why Independence Matters in Solar Advisory

The solar installation market in Portugal has grown substantially. With that growth has come a proliferation of companies offering "free assessments" that are, in practice, sales presentations. The projections in those assessments are often built on assumptions that favour installation — high self-consumption ratios, optimistic electricity price escalation, minimal system degradation and favourable weather scenarios.

This is not necessarily dishonest. Installers genuinely believe in their products. But their financial interest and yours are not perfectly aligned. They benefit from installation regardless of whether the payback period meets your expectations. You bear the financial risk if the projections prove over-optimistic.

Urban Studium was established to address this gap. We provide assessment and advisory services only. We do not install panels, represent any equipment manufacturer, or earn referral fees from any party in the supply chain. Our fee comes from you, for an honest analysis. That alignment of interest is the foundation of everything we do.

Urban Studium advisor reviewing solar assessment documentation independently at a clean desk with natural light

Three Pillars

What Our Independence Means in Practice

No Commercial Relationships

We have no agreements, partnerships, referral arrangements or commercial relationships with any solar panel manufacturer, inverter supplier, installation company or equipment distributor. We cannot be influenced by such relationships because they do not exist.

Transparent Assumptions

Every financial projection we produce states its assumptions explicitly. You can see exactly what electricity price escalation rate we used, what self-consumption ratio we assumed and what degradation rate we applied. If you disagree with an assumption, we can discuss it.

Willingness to Advise Against

If our assessment concludes that solar does not make sound financial sense for your property — because of roof orientation, consumption patterns, system cost or regulatory context — we will say so clearly. A negative conclusion is not a failure; it is the service working as intended.

Detailed solar assessment report document open on a desk with highlighted sections and professional annotations

Our Methodology

How We Maintain Objectivity

Our assessment methodology is consistent across all clients. We apply the same analytical framework regardless of roof type, location or system size. The inputs change; the rigour does not.

We use publicly available meteorological data from IPMA and European solar radiation databases. Our consumption analysis is based on your actual EDP billing data, not estimates. Our regulatory context is drawn from current DGEG and ERSE publications, not installer summaries.

Where data is uncertain or projections involve genuine unknowns — future electricity prices, for instance — we say so and present a range rather than a point estimate. Honest uncertainty is more useful than false precision.

The written report you receive is yours to keep, share with other advisors, or use when evaluating installer quotations. It is structured so that you can compare the assumptions in an installer's projection against ours and understand where and why they differ.

Understand the Process