Renewables supply 88% of electricity consumption in February

February was a month with favourable conditions for renewable energies, whose generation supplied 88% of electricity consumption. Non-renewables accounted for 10% of the supply, while the remaining 2% were supplied by imported energy. Electricity consumption rose by 0.1% in February, compared to the same period last year. When correcting for temperature and working days (this month had 29 days), consumption recorded a growth of 1.9%. In the first two months of the year, there is an increase of 0.9%, or 2.4%, when correcting for temperature and working days.

In February, hydropower capability was 1.10 (historical average of 1), wind capability was 1.19 (historical average of 1), while photovoltaic capability remained at an index of 0.92 (historical average of 1). During this period, new maximum values were recorded in the power delivered to the grid in all three technologies. Hydropower reached a maximum power of 6,906 MW on 28 February, wind 5,019 MW on 29 February, and photovoltaics 1,919 MW on 19 February. It is worth noting that in the case of photovoltaics, this power corresponds only to facilities that feed into the public gird, currently representing around 2,700 MW of installed power.

Since the beginning of the year, the hydropower capability index was 1.21, the wind capability index was 1.03, and the solar capability index was 0.89. In the course of the year, renewable generation supplied 84% of consumption, split between hydroelectric with 44%, wind with 30%, and both biomass and photovoltaics with 5%. Generation from natural gas supplied 12% of consumption, while the balance of trade with foreign countries supplied the remaining 4%.

In the natural gas market, the trend of consumption reduction, which had halted in January, resumed in February, with an overall year-on-year reduction of 27%, constrained by the performance of the electricity generation segment, which presented a decrease of 73%, due to the high availability of renewable energy. Nevertheless, the conventional segment continued to record a positive year-on-year variation of 16%, primarily due to the major consumers segment. By the end of February, the accumulated annual consumption of natural gas recorded a decrease of 12%, split between an increase of 9% in the conventional segment and a drop of 48% in the power generation segment.