Renewables supply 72% of electricity in Q1

Renewable sources supplied 72% of electricity consumption in the first quarter of 2023, although weather conditions were again unfavourable in March, the National Energy Networks (REN) announced on Monday.

In the first three months of the year, “renewable production supplied 72% of consumption, split between hydroelectric with 34%, wind with 27%, biomass with 6% and photovoltaic with 5%,” with the hydroelectric productivity index at 0.95 (historical average equal to 1), wind productivity at 0.93 and solar productivity at 1.14, REN said in a statement.

Natural gas production supplied 19% of consumption, while the remaining 9% corresponded to imports.

However, in March, weather conditions were again negative for renewable energy, with the exception of photovoltaic, and renewable production was responsible for supplying 56% of consumption (non-renewable 15%, imported 29%).

In that month, the hydroelectricity productivity index stood at 0.65, wind at 0.83 and solar at 1.14, and the photovoltaic generation peak exceeded 1,500 megawatts (MW) for the first time, around 400 MW more than in the same period last year.

Electricity consumption fell 1% in March, compared to the same period the previous year, or 1.1% with correction for temperature effects and the number of working days, but the accumulated consumption for the first quarter rose 2.1% or 1.3% with correction for temperature and working days.

As regards natural gas, in the first quarter, the accumulated annual consumption of gas registered a negative year-on-year variation of 20%, split between a retreat of 4.1% in the conventional segment and a fall of 39% in the power generation segment.

In the case of the conventional segment, REN highlighted that this is the lowest consumption since 2009.

The national system was supplied mainly from the Sines liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, 89% of the total, with the remaining 11% received through the interconnection with Spain.