Portugal: Solar and biomass energy set new records in February

  • ECO News
  • 3 March 2020

Year to date renewable production supplied 67% of consumption, divided between hydroelectric with 38%, wind with 23%, biomass with 5.7% and photovoltaic with 1.6%.

The electricity produced in Portugal is increasingly coming from biomass and solar energy. These two energy sources reached new historic highs last February, according to the latest figures released by REN.

This month, the energy production through biomass has reached its highest ever, with 415 MW, and photovoltaic production is reaching higher values as the new solar plants come on stream. The maximum power of photovoltaic installations reached 568 MW in February, which is now the maximum value registered in the national system.

In the last 30 days renewable production has supplied 66% of national consumption, non-renewable production has accounted for 31%, while the remaining 3% has been supplied using imported energy. In February, electricity consumption registered a year-on-year variation of 0.3%.

Due to the low rainfall, the hydroelectric production index stood at 0.84 (historical average equal to 1). In wind power production, conditions were “particularly negative” registering an index of 0.63 (historical average equal to 1), which was even the lowest ever for the month of February (REN registers since 2001).

Year to date renewable production supplied 67% of consumption, divided between hydroelectric with 38%, wind with 23%, biomass with 5.7% and photovoltaic with 1.6%. Non-renewable production supplied 33% of consumption, with natural gas accounting for 31%, while coal remained with residual use. The balance for the first two months of the year was exported, equivalent to around 4% of national consumption.

National consumption of natural gas advanced 15.1% in February, driven by the segment of the electricity market that grew 87% due to the competitiveness of natural gas production compared to coal production. In the first two months of the year, natural gas consumption increased by 16.5% as a result of a 73% growth in the electricity market.