Consumption of natural gas increases 4.8% in August

The consumption of natural gas increased 4.8% in August, compared to the same period of the previous year. Both the 6.1% growth in the power production segment and the 3.7% increase in the conventional segment, which includes the remaining consumptions, contributed to this result./p>

Despite this increase, the accumulated annual consumption contracted 3.5%, with the conventional segment showing a negative variation of 7.6% and the power production segment growing 4.7%.

In August, electricity consumption was close to the one recorded in the same period of the previous year, with a 0.7% decrease, or 0.8% when correcting for the effects of temperature and the number of working days. The annual change registered a negative variation of 3.9%, or 4.5% less when correcting for temperature and working days.

Also in August, the hydropower capability index was 1.55 (historical average of 1), a figure well above average but of little significance due to the low figures characteristic of this time of year. The wind-power capability index was slightly above the average regime, at 1.03 (historical average of 1). Renewable production fuelled 41% of domestic consumption, non-renewable production accounted for 54%, while the remaining 5% accounted for imported energy.

In the first eight months of the year, the hydropower capability index stood at 0.96 (historical average of 1), whereas the wind-power capability index was 0.88 (historical average of 1). In this period, renewable production supplied 58% of consumption, broken down into 25% for hydropower, 23% for wind power, 7% for biomass and 3% for photovoltaics. Non-renewable production supplied 35% of consumption, essentially with natural gas, as coal production accounted for less than 2% of consumption. Foreign trade balance amounts to around 7% of domestic consumption.