Electricity consumption increases 10.6% in May

In May, year-on-year electricity consumption grew by 10.6%, or 11.9% when correcting the effects of temperature and number of working days. In the period from January to May, this increase compared to 2020 first five months reached 2.6%, or 2.8% when correcting temperature and working days. Compared to the same period in 2019, there was a decrease of 2.1%.

This May, conditions remained unfavourable for hydraulic generation, with the capability index standing at 0.67 (historical average of 1). In wind generation, conditions were more favourable, with the corresponding capability index standing at 1.15 (historical average of 1). All renewable generation supplied 53% of consumption, whereas non-renewables supplied 26%, and energy imports supplied the remaining 21%. 

From January to May, the hydropower capability index reached 1.12 (historical average of 1) and the wind-power capability index stood at 0.97 (historical average of 1). In this same period, renewable generation supplied 72% of consumption, broken down into 35% for hydropower, 27% for wind-power, 7% for biomass and 3% for photovoltaic sources, which are now reaching peaks of around 750 MW. Non-renewable production supplied 26% of consumption, split between natural gas with 24% and coal with 2%, with the remaining 2% coming from imported energy.

There was also strong year-on-year growth in the natural gas market, up 24.7%, with increases in both the conventional segment, which increased 32.5%, and in the power production segment, which grew by 7.8%.

In the period from January to May, the accumulated annual consumption of natural gas is already showing a positive year-on-year change, growing 2.4%, despite a contraction of around 12% in the power generation segment, while remaining virtually in line with the same period of 2019.