Renewable energy production supplies 59% of electricity consumption in 2021

According to data released today, renewable energy production supplied 59% of electricity consumption in Portugal in 2021.

REN – Redes Energéticas Nacionais (National Energy Network) state that of the 59% of electricity consumption supplied by energy production from renewable sources last year, 26% corresponds to wind energy, 27% to hydroelectric, 7% to biomass and 3.5% to photovoltaic sources.

In the case of photovoltaic solar energy, although it continued to be the least significant among renewables, REN highlighted its strong growth (37%) compared to the previous year.

Around 10% of the remaining energy production corresponds to imports, but what about the electricity consumption supplied by non-renewable energy production in 2021? Around 29% was produced using coal, with the last plant closed at the end of November (Pego, in Abrantes).

In 2021, the hydroelectric productivity index registered 0.93 (historical average equal to 1) and the wind productivity index 1.01 (historical average equal to 1).

As for the consumption of electricity last year, there was a growth of 1.4%, or 1.7% with correction for temperature and working days, but it was still 1.7% of the value registered in 2019.

The total consumption of natural gas, in the period under analysis, registered a negative variation of 4.6%, compared to the same period of the previous year. When compared to 2019, natural gas consumption decreased by 6%.

In December, electricity consumption dropped 1%, compared to the same month in 2020, which increased to 1.8% considering the effects of temperature and number of working days.

In that month, REN explained, conditions remained very negative for hydroelectric production, with the respective producibility index not exceeding 0.42 (historical average equal to 1), unlike wind production, which registered a particularly high index. high, with 1.37 (historical average equal to 1).

Renewable production supplied 66% of consumption in December, non-renewable production supplied 26%, while the remaining 8% corresponded to imported energy.

In the natural gas market, the trend seen in recent months continued in December, still conditioned by current market conditions, with the conventional segment recording a year-on-year contraction of 18%, while global consumption dropped only 1% due to positive performance of the electricity production segment, which registered a year-on-year growth of 50%, almost offsetting the reduction in the conventional segment.