Renewables supply 78% of energy consumption in February

In February, renewable production supplied 78% of electricity consumption in Portugal. Non-renewable generation accounted for 13% of consumption, while the remaining 9% was supplied by imported energy. Year-to-date, renewable production supplied 77% of consumption, broken down into hydroelectric power with 38%, wind power with 28%, photovoltaics with 6% and biomass with 5%. Natural gas production supplied 13% of consumption, while the balance of trade with foreign countries supplied the remaining 10%.

As for electricity consumption, despite February having one less day this year than in 2024, electricity consumption grew by 3.2% year-on-year (2.7% when correcting for temperature and working days). This growth was driven by lower temperatures than in the same period last year, although with values well above the average for the month. The year-on-year change is 2.6%, or 2.1% when correcting for temperature and working days.

As in January, conditions were once again very favourable for hydroelectric power, with a producibility index of 1.28 (historical average of 1). In the opposite direction, conditions were particularly unfavourable for both wind and photovoltaic power, with the respective indices registering 0.71 and 0.83 respectively. In the case of solar energy, the continuous increase in installed power made it possible to maintain high year-on-year growth (27%, with power delivered to the grid reaching peaks of around 2,800 MW for the first time.
In January and February, the hydropower capability index stood at 1.25, wind power at 1.00 and solar power at 0.82.

In the gas market, consumption grew by 3.8%, due to the positive behaviour of the electricity production segment, which recorded a year-on-year change of 61%, in the face of lower availability of renewable energy than in the same period of the previous year.

In the conventional segment, which covers all other consumers, consumption fell by 8.3%, mainly due to falls in large industrial consumers. At the end of February, accumulated annual gas consumption grew by 1.5%, broken down into a 6.2% drop in the conventional segment and a 29% increase in the electricity generation segment.

In these two months, the national system continued to be supplied through the Sines LNG terminal, while the balance of trade through the interconnection with Spain remained an export, equivalent to around 6% of national consumption in this period. The United States, with 47%, and Nigeria, with 39%, were the main sources of gas consumed in Portugal.