Cold wave pushes natural gas and electricity consumption to successive historical highs

The cold wave that has struck Portugal since the beginning of the year has caused natural gas and electricity consumption in Portugal to exceed successive historical highs, with regard to both peak and daily consumption levels.

Maximum daily electricity consumption grew over the cold wave, reaching 185.1 GWh on 13 January, topping an 11-year high dating back to 11 January 2010. The highest consumption ever was recorded on 12 January at 7:30 PM, reaching 9887 MW, topping the previous peak of 9403 MW, which also occurred in 2010.

As for natural gas, the highest daily consumption ever was reached on 5 January, at 299.1 GWh, topping the previous peak of 269.9 GWh, of 5 December 2017. Also on the 5th, at 8 PM, the highest consumption ever was reached, at 14874 MW, whereas the previous peak was of 13539 MW, on 7 January 2020.

Still on the topic of natural gas, new historical highs should be mentioned - on 5 January, with the maximum daily emission from the Sines LNG terminal to the network, and on 8 January, with the export to Spain, through the Campo Maior interconnection.