Portugal has been one of the good performers in the Eurozone in recent years: its growth is high, unemployment is low, its budget deficit is almost non-existent and economically investments are progressing. But Portugal has been in the news a lot lately in the renewable energy sector. Indeed, in March 2018, it managed to cover more than 100% of its energy needs with its green energy production! In short, the Portuguese energy transition is a real success!

Specifically during the month of March 2018, Portugal produced more electricity than its need for electricity consumption. Portugal has thus produced 4812 GW of electricity versus 4647 GW of electricity consumed. It is therefore a country that has taken the path of a sustainable development, respectful of the environment and that will therefore control in the future its energy budget by not depending on oil prices… another reason to bet on this country and to move to Portugal.

It is a great first in Europe and in the world. And what is even more amazing is that Portugal has been able to improve its electricity production very quickly. For comparison in March 2017, Portugal had produced less than 10% of its electricity consumption needs with renewable energy.

Overall energy situation in Portugal

Historically, Portugal has always imported all of its energy needs for billions of euros. Portugal has very few resources in terms of primary energy. It imports almost all of its oil, gas and coal needs. In 2014, Portugal still imported 77% of its primary energy needs. Portugal’s energy trade has always been in deficit.

Portugal also does not have a nuclear power plant on its territory like France. With the emergence of renewable energies, the energy balance for electricity supply is improving. These renewable energies represent about 1/ 4 of the energy consumption. This does not yet have a sufficient impact on Portugal’s overall energy balance.

But it is still well above the European average. Portugal’s per capita consumption of primary energy is slightly higher than the world average but much lower than the European average. Portugal is a very good student for greenhouse gas emissions, especially energy-related CO2. Portugal’s emissions are lower than both the European and world average.

Portuguese energy policy versus European energy policy.

Portugal started its energy transition in the 2000s and has achieved a tour de force in a very short time. And from the beginning, Portugal has invested a lot in this field and today Portugal’s capacity to produce clean energy is very important and impressive. Portugal has become a forerunner in the field of successful energy transition. Today, nearly 60% of the electricity produced in the country is green!

As a comparison, in France 3 times less electricity is produced from this type of energy. In France, more than 60% of the electricity comes from nuclear power plants. This change in the production of electricity in Portugal has both an effect on the price of electricity which has dropped. The price of electricity fell by more than 4 euros per Mwh between March 107 and March 2018. The other impact has been on the environment: on CO2 emissions, which have been reduced. Portugal has achieved its energy transition in a spectacular way and in a short time. Other member states will be able to learn from it.

Portuguese renewable energies

Portugal has invested heavily in the wind, hydro and solar sectors. Portugal has invested a lot in this sector to reduce its energy dependency. Having no nuclear power plant on its soil, Portugal was importing all its electricity needs at a high price. In Portugal the production of electricity is divided as follows 49% in energy of fossil origin (coal, gas), almost as much in renewable energy approximately 48% (of which 23% in wind energy, and 18% in hydraulic energy, the solar energy represents 2%), and finally Portugal also produces electricity approximately 2,5% with the technique of pumping – turbining.

Today, the Castelo de Bode dam is one of the main suppliers of green electricity in the country. The country has a total of 36 dams of this type. In this dam, the turbines provide electricity for almost 75,000 inhabitants on a daily basis. Another technical feat of this small country, which can be seen in the north of the country, is the Alto Rabagao reservoir.

In this reservoir, thousands of solar panels float on the surface of the water and they have combined the solar power plant with a hydroelectric power plant. Portugal covers 23% of its electricity needs by wind, it is just behind Denmark and Ireland. Portugal has 261 wind farms. More than half of them are located in the north of the country. Portugal is in 5th place in Europe for the installed power per capita. The only small downside to this extraordinary situation is that the renewable energy produced in Portugal depends partly on the weather.

The better the weather, the better the yield. And this is what happened last March, Portugal has certainly produced more than it needed for its consumption but renewable energies have a flaw: they are not necessarily constant: more sun at night, less wind sometimes, … Portugal still needs to call on fossil fuels at times to take over in order to have a constant production of electricity without interruption. Portugal has produced more at times but has not been able to store it.

Portuguese difficulties: storage and network.

Despite all these good results in electricity production from renewable energy, Portugal has a big problem of storage and interconnection. In other words, during this great feat last March when it produced more electricity than it needed for consumption, it lost part of this surplus because it could not store it or export it. For example, it does not have storage batteries.

And it could not export it to other countries either because it does not have a network sufficiently connected with other countries, especially in the European Union, to export its surplus production. This is also partly due to its situation as a peninsula.

European difficulties: European interconnections

Today, this problem of interconnection between countries is not simply a Portuguese problem. The European Union has set a target of 15% interconnection between European countries by 2020. But this target is highly criticized, and many member states will have difficulty reaching this target in time: Cyprus, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. Other countries, such as France, Germany and Italy, are expected to reach the target by 2020.

If this target were to be called into question, it could have major repercussions on the development of renewable energy in Europe. Electricity is the last product that does not circulate freely in the European Union. Indeed, there are sometimes many differences in network infrastructure between European countries. Yet for these advocates, a sufficiently connected common European electricity market would be a serious asset for the member states. For years, the individual member states have protected their national markets.