‘It would be absolutely nonsensical’ to return to coal-fired power generation, says Matos Fernandes

The Minister of the Environment and Climate Action has no doubt that Portugal’s return to energy production from coal “would cost a lot of money”. In an interview with Jornal de Negócios, João Pedro Matos Fernandes said that the country was paying €100 million per month just for the Pego power plant’s operation.

Therefore, the minister considered that, “from a price point of view, it is absolutely clear that it would be absolutely nonsensical” to return to coal as a source of energy production. Assuring that, given the war in Ukraine, all hypotheses are “being evaluated”, Matos Fernandes states that this “is not currently on the table”.

Furthermore, the minister says he has “not the slightest doubt that coal would make the pressure on electricity prices even greater”, stressing that the bet to be made is “on renewable sources”. “Cheap electricity is that which is produced from renewable sources,” he continues, adding that, “if Portugal already produced 100% of its electricity from renewable sources, there would be no discussion at all about the price of electricity.”