Gavin Maguire
Europe's clever new clean energy champion: Maguire
LITTLETON, Colo. — Portugal's power companies have pledged to cut the share of their electricity production from fossil fuels to just 10% by 2024, overtaking neighboring Spain and emerging as Western Europe's second-cleanest large-scale power sector behind France.
Total generation of clean electricity in the first seven months of 2024 reached a record high of 21.76 terawatt-hours, up 32% compared with the same months in 2023, according to data from energy think tank Ember.
Record production from solar and wind farms and the highest hydroelectric generation since 2016 were the main drivers of the clean electricity surge, which has allowed power companies to cut natural gas-fired generation by 60% from January to July 2023.
Portuguese electricity companies also increased their total generation by 7% to the highest since 2021, demonstrating that a multifaceted approach to promoting clean generation could help drive rapid progress towards energy transition goals.
turn around
The construction this year of some of Europe's largest new hydroelectric dams and solar power plants has helped accelerate Portugal's reduction in the use of fossil fuels in its electricity generation mix.
The 1,158-megawatt Tamega Dam and the 202-megawatt Cerca Solar Plant began operations this year, allowing the power company to reduce its total electricity generation from fossil fuels to just 2.53 terawatt-hours through July of this year.
This total from fossil fuels is down 59% compared to the same period in 2023, the lowest on record.
As a result, emissions across the power sector fell significantly, to 2.12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in the first seven months, a 45% decrease compared to the same months in 2023 and a new record.
Hydro Help
Portugal's hydroelectric generation has increased this year thanks to the new Tamega power station and increased rainfall.
LSEG said pumped hydro generation rose 67% to 172,758 megawatt hours in the first seven months of 2024, while run-of-river generation increased 70% to 259,415 megawatt hours.
Reservoir-based hydroelectric generation increased by 76% to 117,024 MWh.
Portugal's cumulative hydropower generation increase has seen hydropower's share of the electricity generation mix average 35.3% so far this year, up from 20.7% in the same period in 2023, according to Ember data.
The share of solar and wind power in the electricity generation mix also increased.
Solar PV has averaged a 13.3% share in Portugal so far this year, up from 10.6% in 2023, while wind power plants have averaged 33.1% of total power generation, up from 32.6% in the first seven months of 2023.
Additionally, the share of clean electricity in the generation mix is likely to continue to increase following new proposals by the Portuguese government to increase the share of renewable energies in electricity production.
The government announced last month that it would meet 51% of the country's final energy needs from renewable energy by 2030 as part of its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2045.
The innovative introduction of renewable assets into existing energy projects could help achieve these goals.
The award-winning Alqueva Floating Solar Park integrates hydroelectric power, floating solar power and battery storage and can generate 7.5 gigawatt-hours of clean energy per year.
And a proposed 274-MW wind farm to be integrated into the Tamega dam project will generate enough clean electricity to meet the annual energy needs of 128,000 homes, according to developer Iberdrola.
Portugal is also looking to further expand its solar capacity with a planned project with The Nature Conservancy to identify optimal sites for solar farms, and the country is also looking for suitable sites for offshore wind farms, in addition to upgrading existing onshore plants.
Current momentum combined with planned growth is likely to propel Portugal further up the list of European clean energy champions and establish it as a leader in the global energy transition.
This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
