Consumption beats new peaks with heatwave

Electricity consumption in Portugal reached on the weekend of August 4th and 5th, new historical peaks of summer weekends surpassing the previous one achieved in 2013.

In what has been considered, to date, the hottest weekend of the year, consumption reached on Saturday the 139.5 GWh, surpassing the previous maximum of 135.4 GWh on 6 July 2013, and the highest peak of 6608 MW at 12:15 pm since the one recorded on July 6, 2013, with 6372 MW. On Sunday, consumption registered 131.0 GWh and a maximum peak of 6449 MW at 9 pm, exceeding the previous sunday maximums verified on July 7th 2013 (127.0 GWh/6238 MW).

On Friday, August 3rd, the day that according to the IPMA (Portuguese Atmospheric Weather Forecasting Institute) 'the maximum temperature records in August were exceeded', the consumption and peak demand reached this summer's highest values with 155.3 GWh and a maximum peak of 7591 MW. The fact that the heatwave is going on in August, a month in which traditionally consumptions are lower, has not yet allowed to surpass the historical maximums reached on 2010 (155.6 GWh registered on 30th July and a maximum peak of 7912 MW , at 11:45 am, on July 6th).