Renewables supplied 67% of the electricity consumed in October

In October, renewable energy production supplied 67% of the electricity consumed in Portugal. Non-renewable production accounted for 17%, while the remaining 16% corresponded to imported energy.

During this month, electricity consumption showed a positive evolution, with a 3.1% increase (2.1% after adjusting for temperature and the number of working days).

In October, conditions were very favorable for hydroelectric and wind power production. Hydroelectric power had a production yield index of 1.75 (historical average of 1), marking the third-highest value recorded by REN for October since 1971.

Meanwhile, wind power production remained stable at 1.22. In the wind power sector, this month saw new historical highs in power delivered to the grid (4843 MW) and daily production (108.0 GWh). In contrast, photovoltaic power had a production yield index of 0.84.

For the period from January to October, the hydroelectric production yield index was 0.86, the wind power production yield index was 1.00, and the solar production yield index was 1.02.

During the same period, renewable production supplied 56% of consumption, with wind power contributing 24%, hydroelectric power 18%, photovoltaic power 8%, and biomass 6%.

Natural gas production supplied 21% of consumption, while the remaining 23% was imported energy. In the first ten months, overall consumption remained nearly consistent with the same period in the previous year, with a 0.1% decrease (0.2% after adjusting for temperature and working days).

In the natural gas market, the trend of reduced consumption persisted, with a 27% year-on-year decrease in October. In the electricity market segment, influenced by the high availability of renewable energy, there was a 50% year-on-year decrease, while in the conventional segment, comprising the remaining customers, a negative year-on-year variation was also observed, with a 6% decrease.

From January to October, natural gas consumption saw a 20% year-on-year decrease, with a 39% reduction in the electricity production segment and a 4.3% decrease in the conventional segment.

This overall gas consumption is the lowest since 2006.