Natural gas consumption increases 57% in April

Natural gas consumption was 57% up in April compared to the same period of the previous year, driven by power production natural gas plants. There was also significant growth in the conventional segment, with a year-on-year increase of 13.8%.

From January to April, the accumulated annual consumption of natural gas recorded a negative year-on-year variation of 1.7%, as a result of a 15.6% contraction in the power production segment and 4.2% growth in the conventional segment, which includes the remaining consumers.

In April, electricity consumption recorded a 6.5% year-on-year growth, or 10.4% when correcting for temperature and the number of working days. In the first four months of the year consumption increased 0.9%, or 0.8% when correcting for temperature and working days.

This month the conditions were unfavourable for renewable energies, with a hydropower capability index of 0.78 (historical average of 1) and wind power capability index of 0.60 (historical average of 1). In the latter case, it was the lowest figure for the month of April since 2001, according to REN's records. Renewable production supplied 54% of consumption and non-renewable production 41%, while imported energy accounted for the remaining 5%.

For the period from January to April, the hydropower capability index was 1.18 (historical average of 1) and the wind-power capability index was 0.93 (historical average of 1). During this period, renewable production supplied 74% of consumption (including net exports), broken down into 39% for hydropower, 27% for wind, 6% for biomass and 2% for photovoltaics. Non-renewable production supplied 23% of consumption from natural gas and 2% from coal. The foreign trade balance favoured exports, amounting to around 2% of the domestic consumption.