Consumption of electric power grows 10.4% in April

The consumption of electricity increased 10.4% year-over-year in Abril. This variation reflects the sharp deviation of temperatures vis-à-vis the usual values for this time of the year. The accumulated variation in the first four months of the year stands at 6%, strongly influenced by the recorded temperatures.

Still in April, the hydrological conditions remained favourable, with a hydrological index of 2.01 (historical average equal to 1). This is the second highest value ever for the month of April in REN's records (since 1971). Conditions were also positive in wind generation, with the corresponding capability index standing at 1.08 (historical average of 1). On aggregate, renewable production supplied 81% of the national consumption + net exports. The foreign trade balance continued to favour exports, amounting to around 5% of the domestic consumption.

After an extremely dry start of the year, the rains in March and April brought the inflows into the hydroelectric dams to numbers above average, with the hydropower capability index for the period between January and April standing at 1.14 (historical average equal to 1) while the wind power capability index is 1.16 (historical average equal to 1). In this period, renewable production supplied 66% of consumption, 30% from hydroelectric stations, 29% from wind, 5% from biomass and 1.2% from photovoltaics. Non-renewable production supplied the remaining 34% of consumption, with natural gas accounting for 20% and coal for 14%. For this period, coal production is the lowest in the last four years. The foreign trade balance favoured exports, amounting to around 6% of the domestic consumption.

In the natural gas market, the trend of reduction in the electric market segment continued in April, due to the higher availability of renewable energy. In this segment, consumption recorded a year-over-year reduction of 70%, while in the conventional segment there was 12% growth, influenced by the low recorded temperatures. At the end of April, the consumption of natural gas presents a variation of -8.0% year over year, with a growth of 3.5% in the conventional segment and a reduction of 32% in the electricity market.