Portugal Hit Clean Energy Milestone

Portugal used renewable energy alone for just over four days last week. The clean energy achievement is a significant milestone in the country’s bid to become entirely reliant on renewable energy sources. News of Portugal’s clean energy landmark come just days after Germany announced they had used clean energy to power almost all of its electricity needs on Sunday 15 May.

Portugal was powered entirely from clean energy sources from 6.45am on Saturday 7 May until 5.45pm on Wednesday 11 May. The country resorted to solar, wind and hydro alternatives instead of coal and natural gas.

Francisco Ferreira, President of Portuguese sustainability NGO Zero, told The Independent: “Portugal has been investing considerably in renewables, particularly in electricity, since this will be the main final energy within the next decades with the transition from fossil fuels in road transportation to electric vehicles.

“Since key decisions in the beginning of the century to greatly expand on-shore wind, with the renew of the equipment in certain dams and the improvement of their storage capacity to handle wind production variability, the electricity system can now achieve 100 per cent of renewable electricity being produced and even export.

“However, this was the first time that it happened for such a long period, due to particular meteorological conditions and the great management performance of the electricity network.”

Portugal sees the more sunshine than any other country in Europe so it is hoped that solar power will play a big role in the country’s sustainable energy efforts. The country has come on leaps and bounds after previously being considered as one of Europe’s biggest producer of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2).

After achieving so highly in spring, it is hoped that Portugal can maintain even higher levels of renewable energy production in the summer, when weather improves.