Renewable Source Catered to 52% of Portugal’s Energy Needs in 2018

The balance of trade favoured exports for the third year in a row and amounted to around 5% of domestic consumption.

In a massive achievement, Portugal met 52% of its power need through renewable sources, a press release by Portuguese power utility Redes Energeticas Nacionais (REN) shows.

Renewable production supplied 52% of domestic consumption, plus net exports, in 2018, broken down into wind power and hydropower, both with 23%, biomass with 5% and photovoltaic with 1.5%.

The balance of trade favoured exports for the third year in a row and amounted to around 5% of domestic consumption.

Still in 2018, the consumption of electricity totalled 50.9 TWh, a year-on-year increase of 2.5%, or 1.7% when accounting for the effects of temperature and number of working days. This is the second highest annual consumption ever, 2.5% below the all-time high recorded in 2010.

In December, power consumption recorded a year-on-year reduction of 2.4%, stemming from the above-average temperatures recorded during the month, unlike those in the same month of the previous year. When correcting for the effects of temperature and number of working days, the variation was 1.2%.

In December, the hydropower capability index was 0.63 (historical average of 1), whereas in wind generation the corresponding capability index was 0.83 (historical average of 1).

Renewable production supplied 56% of domestic consumption, with non-renewable production supplying the remaining 44%. The balance of trade continued to favour exports and was equal to 0.4% of domestic consumption.

In 2018, the annual hydropower capability index was 1.05 (historical average of 1), whereas the wind-power capability index was 1.00, in line with the historical average.