Portugal Powers Itself Solely by Renewables for Entire Weekend - Newsweek

Portugal Powers Itself Solely by Renewables for Entire Weekend

The entire country of Portugal didn't use a single watt of non-renewable energy this weekend, relying only on renewable sources to keep the lights on.

The country generated 172.5 GWh of renewable electricity between Friday night and Monday morning, mostly from wind and hydroelectric power, using only 131.1 GWh in the same period of time.

During this time, 97.6 GWh came from wind power, 68.3 GWh from hydroelectric power, and 6.6 GWh from solar energy, according to the Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN), Portugal's grid operator, with excess energy being sold to its neighbors in Spain.

"Taking advantage of favorable wind and rain conditions, electricity consumption in Portugal has been entirely provided by renewable sources, primarily wind and hydroelectric power, since 10:30 PM on Friday," REN said in a translated statement. "Surplus production has been exported through the connection with Spain."

Portugal has achieved similar feats several times before: in 2016, the entire country relied on renewables for four days straight for the first time, while in 2018, their renewable energy generation equaled 103.6 percent of their total energy demand.

The U.S. is quite significantly different from Portugal in this respect, as only around 20 percent of the country's energy needs are provided by renewables, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2022, 21.3 percent of our energy was generated by renewables, with 10.3 percent coming from wind power, 6 percent from hydroelectric, 3.4 percent from solar, and 1.2 percent from biomass. Of the non-renewables, 18.2 percent was generated by nuclear power, 39.9 percent from natural gas, and 19.7 percent from coal.

Some U.S. states are much better than others in terms of renewable energy production. The Midwest and Great Plains are some of the best-performing states, with 62.5 percent of Iowa's energy production, 53.8 percent of South Dakota's, 46.6 percent of Kansas' and 44.5 percent of Oklahoma's coming from renewables in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Vermont and Maine are also big renewable producers, at 50.5 percent and 42.2 percent, respectively. Some of the worst-performing states include Alabama and Alaska at 2.7 percent, Tennessee at 1.7 percent, Arkansas at 2.5 percent and Kentucky at 0.7 percent.

Several other countries are producing a large proportion of their energy from renewable sources: according to Enerdata, in 2022, Norway's energy output was 98.5 percent renewable, while Brazil was 89.2 percent, New Zealand's 86.6 percent, Colombia's 75.1 percent and Canada's 68.8 percent.

Portugal in particular hopes to generate 80 percent of its annual electricity from renewable sources by 2026, and run the country entirely on renewables by 2040.

"It is expected that by 2040 the production of renewable electricity will be able to guarantee, in a cost-effective manner, the entire annual electricity consumption of mainland Portugal," Associação Portuguesa de Energias Renováveis (APREN) said in a translated statement in 2018. "However, the occasional use of natural gas plants will still be necessary, in addition to the crucial support of interconnections and the increasingly important role of electricity storage."

In January this year, 88 percent of the country's energy needs were supplied by renewables, up from 52 percent the January prior.

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