Electricity consumption grew by 7.1 per cent year-on-year in April, with renewable energy supplying more than half of consumption. Hydroelectric productivity remained well below normal.
Electricity consumption in April grew by 7.1 per cent compared to the same month in 2021, with more than half of the supply coming from renewable energy (54 per cent). Non-renewable energy accounted for 27 per cent of production, while the remaining 19 per cent was supplied by imported energy, REN's latest balance sheet shows. Correcting for the effects of temperature and the number of days, consumption nevertheless rose by 5.5 per cent.
The company emphasises that last month ‘the hydroelectric regime remained dry’. The inflows were less than half ‘the normal values for this time of year’, namely an index of 0.49, which compares with the historical average of 1. In fact, the suspension imposed by the previous government on electricity generation in five dams on 1 February is still in force, at a time when the low levels of water in the reservoirs began to cause concern.
On the other hand, the wind and photovoltaic regimes ‘were more favourable’, points out REN, both slightly above the historical average.
Analysing the period from January to April, electricity consumption in Portugal grew by 2.6% year-on-year, or 3.2% when correcting for temperature and working days. In these four months, the hydroelectric productivity index was 0.34, which compares with a historical average of 1. Wind productivity was 0.96, while solar productivity was 1.06, both also with historical averages of 1.
According to REN, in this four-month period, renewable production supplied half of Portugal's electricity consumption, broken down into 28 per cent wind, 12 per cent hydroelectric, 6 per cent biomass and 4 per cent photovoltaic. REN emphasises that although the latter is still ‘the least representative technology’, it continues to show ‘very high growth’, 73% compared to the same period in 2021, with daily peaks above 1,200 MW (megawatts).
During this period, natural gas supplied 30 per cent of consumption and the remaining 20 per cent corresponded to the ‘import balance’, notes REN.
Analysing the natural gas market, supply in April was almost entirely provided by the Sines Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal. Specifically, six methane ships docked in the country, transporting 5,041 GWh (gigawatt hours) of energy. Almost 56 per cent of this figure came from imports from Nigeria, while almost 44 per cent came from the USA.
Não atracou nenhum navio com origem na Rússia, de acordo com dados recolhidos pelo ECO no data hub da REN.
LNG terminal balance (inputs):
According to the company, "in the natural gas market, there was a year-on-year contraction of 19 per cent in April, with declines both in the conventional segment (down 21 per cent), in line with previous months, and in the electricity generation segment (down 16 per cent), in the latter case going against the trend of recent months.’
Exports through the interconnection with Spain continued in April, ‘which this month accounted for around 8 per cent of national consumption’, the company emphasises.
Between January and April, accumulated natural gas consumption fell by 0.5 per cent. The 66 per cent growth in the electricity production segment was not enough to offset the 23 per cent drop in the conventional segment.
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