Consumption of electricity increases 3.7% in the first half of the year

Consumption of electricity has increased 3.7% year-on-year in the first half of the year, 2.9% when correcting for temperature and workdays. In June, electricity consumption recorded a year-on-year change of -2.2%. This negative variation mostly stems from the high consumption recorded in June of the previous year, due to the effect of the above-average temperatures at the time but not repeated this year. Correcting for the effects of temperature and for the number of workdays, there is a slight growth of 0.2%.

This month, the hydrological conditions were once again favourable, with a hydrological index of 1.58 (historical average equal to 1). Conversely, conditions were negative in wind generation, with the corresponding capability index at 0.92 (historical average of 1). On aggregate, renewable production supplied 44% of the national consumption plus net exports. This month, the foreign trade balance favoured exports again, amounting to around 12% of domestic consumption.

Renewable energy production covers 60% of consumption in the six-month period

At the end of the first half of the year, the hydropower capability index stands at 1.15 (historical average equal to 1), whereas the wind-power capability index is 1.08 (historical average equal to 1). In this six-month period, renewable production supplied 60% of consumption, broken down into 28% for hydropower, 26% for wind power, 5% for biomass and 1.4% for photovoltaics. Non-renewable production supplied the remaining 40% of consumption, with natural gas accounting for 23% and coal for 17%. The foreign trade balance was positive and amounted to 6% of the domestic consumption.

In the natural gas market, the trend of consumption reduction was maintained in June due to the performance of the renewable production and resulting downturn in the consumption of natural gas for the production of electricity. There was a year-on-year reduction of 20% in this segment, whereas the conventional segment showed a year-on-year increase of 8.5%. At the end of the first half, consumption of natural gas presents a negative year-on-year variation of 8.1%, stemming from a 31% decrease in the electricity market, partially offset by a 4.9% growth in the conventional segment.