Renewable energies represented 74.4% of the electricity produced in Mainland Portugal between January and August this year, according to the latest bulletin from the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association (APREN).
In August alone, renewable incorporation into electricity production stood at 69.2%, corresponding to 2,298 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of a total of 3,320 GWh produced during the month.
“The month of August stood out for the strong contribution and balance between solar energy (which again led production) and wind energy, representing 23.7% and 23.3% of the generation mix, respectively,” the association said in a statement.
Hydropower occupied third place, with 14.9%, followed by bioenergy at 7.3%.
Between January and August, there were 707 non-consecutive hours during which renewable production was sufficient to meet the entire electricity consumption in Mainland Portugal.
Only in August, renewable production was sufficient to meet total consumption for 14 hours.
In the same period, Portugal ranked fourth among the eight European countries analysed by APREN in terms of the share of renewables in electricity production, behind Norway (97.4%), Denmark (95.4%), and Austria (79.9%).
The association notes that the comparison considers only the main countries from different European markets “in order to obtain a representative panorama for comparison.”
According to the bulletin, renewable production avoided, between January and August, 809 million euros in natural gas imports and 374 million euros in electricity imports. APREN also estimates a saving of 492 million euros in CO2 emission allowances.
For APREN’s Policy and Market Intelligence coordinator, Susana Serôdio, “the August results perfectly illustrate the value of the complementary nature of the electricity mix, with sun and wind working in harmony to produce almost half of the national production.”
“As renewable energies have a proven impact on reducing electricity prices and are already an important driver of the Portuguese economy,” she adds.
