Renewables generate more than half of electricity consumed this year

  • Lusa
  • 16 March 2022

Portugal was the fourth country with the highest incorporation of renewable energy in electricity generation between January 1 and February 28.

Mainland Portugal generated 7,090 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity in the first two months of the year, of which more than half (56.1%) was from renewable sources, according to data from the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association (APREN).

Portugal was the fourth country with the highest incorporation of renewable energy in electricity generation between January 1 and February 28, according to APREN’s Renewable Electricity Bulletin, issued on Wednesday.

These figures, compared with those in the previous bulletin for the first month of the year, show that more than half (4,085 GWh) of the electricity of the first two months of the year was generated in January, a month in which 59.7% of electricity was of renewable origin, above the 56.1% from renewable sources recorded in the total until February.

In these first two months of the year, according to the bulletin, the electricity generating sector emitted one million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2eq), when in January it had emitted 0.5 million, with APREN noting that the renewable electricity sector “avoided the emission” of 1.2 MtCO2eq and €488 million on importing natural gas.

The bulletin records, in the two months, an average hourly price in the Iberian Electricity Market (MIBEL) in Portugal of €201.3 per megawatt-hour (MWh), less than the €201.89 per MWh recorded in January, and which had represented a more than threefold increase compared to the same period in 2021, APREN revealed a month ago.

According to APREN’s analysis, in the first two months of this year, the national electricity system recorded electricity imports equivalent to 2,453 GWh (of which 982 GWh in January) and exports of 211 GWh (compared with 314 GWh in January), resulting in an import balance of 2,139 GWh (771 GWh in January).