Between October 31 and November 6, 2023, Portugal produced more than enough renewable energy to meet the entire country's demand. While fossil fuel plants were still operational, the clean energy generated was more than sufficient to supply the grid. Consequently, consumer electricity rates dropped drastically.
“The gas plants were there, waiting to dispatch power if necessary. It wasn't needed, because the wind was blowing. We were producing with a positive impact for consumers because prices fell close to zero,” said Hugo Costa, who oversees Portugal at EDP Renováveis, the renewable energy arm of the state utility.
This marked six consecutive days of clean energy, a new record of 149 hours during which “energy from renewable sources exceeded industrial and domestic consumption needs across the country.” The previous record was 131 hours, achieved in 2019.
Driven by wind, solar, and hydroelectric power, Portugal is on track to meet its goal, announced in 2016, of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The country's last coal-fired power plants closed in 2022, leaving imported fossil gas as an emergency backup.
Natural gas use for electricity generation in Portugal fell 39% year-on-year for the January-to-October period. This brought gas usage down to its lowest level since 2006. The key challenge for Portugal's grid decarbonization is to continuously reduce and eventually eliminate the hours the country relies on burning gas. Leaders target phasing out gas generation—which accounted for 21% of electricity consumption from January to October—by 2040.
To meet its climate goals, Portugal diversified its renewable sources, avoiding reliance on a single resource. Wind, solar, and hydroelectric power complement each other within the national energy mix. The country's energy companies are now seeking major new offshore wind opportunities, expanding solar installations, and repowering older onshore wind projects to maximize energy generation at prime locations.
A History Dating Back to the 1970s
Following the end of the Portuguese dictatorship in 1974, the newly formed state utility Energias de Portugal built a series of hydroelectric dams. The first major wind projects emerged in the 1990s, at a time when solar power was not yet economically viable.
Miguel Prado, an expert on the Portuguese energy sector, explains that Portugal's current clean energy achievements are built on key historical decisions: the country chose to invest in new hydroelectric capacity and, 18 years ago, held a large-scale wind power auction.
“It was also crucial that the country did not invest heavily in solar capacity when the technology was still expensive,” he explained. “Today, Portugal faces a massive demand for new utility-scale solar farms as well as decentralized solar projects, leveraging low-cost technology to boost the share of renewable energy in the future.”
Portugal still faces a challenging road ahead to meet its national target of 85% renewable electricity by 2030, Prado added. The primary challenges include slow permitting processes and the complexities of balancing ecological impacts with the urgent need for clean energy.
One way to mitigate permitting delays for new developments is to repower older ones. Portugal has limited land area, and the prime onshore wind locations are already occupied. However, according to the expert, early projects still utilize 500-kilowatt turbines, whereas new turbines can generate up to 6.2 megawatts. Consequently, replacing old turbines with new ones could unlock 12 times the existing capacity.
Another opportunity lies in hybrid plants combining wind and solar power at the same site. Co-locating these facilities reduces fixed construction costs compared to developing the resources separately.
Portugal is also set to invest in offshore wind using floating turbines. In 2011, EDP Renováveis tested a 2-megawatt floating turbine supplied by the American company Principle Power. The equipment withstood 17-meter waves off northern Portugal. This was followed by three 8.4-megawatt floating turbines, with the project securing funding from the European Investment Bank.
Portugal's current target is to deploy 10 gigawatts of offshore wind power. While the projects are not expected to be operational before 2030, the government plans to hold a leasing auction for two gigawatts of offshore development in December.
See how floating wind turbines work:
Clean Energy Storage
In addition to generation, storing this electricity is critical. Currently, Portugal has no large-scale, utility-scale standalone battery storage plants, although some batteries are co-located with solar or wind projects. Existing pumped-storage hydroelectricity has been sufficient so far to balance supply fluctuations. However, as renewables take over a larger share of the country's energy mix, the need to quickly store and dispatch energy will also grow, requiring greater battery capacity, Costa said.
Via CicloVivo.
This article was written by Natasha Olsen. The translation is powered by AI.
