In the first ten months of this year consumption of electricity has fallen slightly in Portugal but the proportion supplied by renewable energy sources including wind and water has reached an impressive 57% of the country’s total.
Electricity consumption dropped worryingly at the start of the year but now has seen its fourth consecutive monthly rise.
To the end of October, 57% of national electricity consumption was supplied from a mix of hydro at 28%, wind power at 23%, biomass at 6% and photo-voltaic at a disappointing 1%.
Coal fired power stations supplied 22% of consumption and natural gas plants a further 14%.
Coal is imported and does not help the balance of trade. The slow growth in photo-voltaic production is interesting as the country is not short of daylight hours yet there are few big projects on stream. EDP's new Chinese owners were going to invest in this sector but when the ink was dry after buying EDP they didn't. Small photo-voltaic plants in beautiful places in the Algarve have caused worry and angery to residents. Fields filled with panels can easily be located where land is cheap and people are few - the Alentejo.
Wind power is a winner though whatever personal opinions are on the turbines. Portugal certainly has wind as in the early morning of October 22nd wind production of electricity reached its highest level ever at 3840 Megawatts.
