Portugal Ran Entirely on Renewable Energy for 4 Days in a Row

For four days in a row, consumption of electricity in Portugal was fully covered by renewable sources.

According to a study conducted by the National Energy Network (REN) and the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association (APREN), between 6:45h on Saturday morning, May 7, and 17: 45h Wednesday, May 11, all the electricity needs of the country were covered by renewable energy sources.

This is the first time Portugal manages to cover her electricity needs with renewable energy for so much time. In 2013, the country’s electricity network operator announced that renewable energy supplied 70 percent of total consumption in the first quarter of 2013, while in 2011 the country covered all of her electricity needs with renewables for a few hours.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the EU country has no fossil fuel production (including coal, oil and natural gas) and as a result Portugal relies on imports of fossil fuels for most of its energy needs as domestic energy production accounts for around 27 percent of the Total Primary Energy Supply (TRES).

The IEA report says that between 2013 and 2014, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels and waste increased at an annualised rate of 31 percent, 20 percent, 8.4 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, aiming to reduce the country’s dependency on energy imports.

The IEA report stresses that in 2014, 74.3 percent of Portugal’s total primary energy supply (TPES) was covered by fossil fuels, including oil (45.1 percent), natural gas (16.4 percent) and coal (12.7 percent).  In 2014, renewables accounted for 25.4 percent, including biofuels and waste 12.6 percent, hydro 6.4 percent, wind 4.9 percent, geothermal 0.8 percent and solar 0.6 percent.