Portugal Ran on 100% Renewable Energy for Six Days in a Row

By Regina Sienra on November 28, 2023

Thanks to its unique geography, Portugal can truly benefit from renewable energy. It boasts over a thousand miles of coast, over 300 sunny days a year, and, when it's cloudy, it can get powerful winds. This convenient mixture resulted in Portugal running on 100% renewable energy for six days in a row, painting a hopeful picture for the future.

On October 27, the largest energy company in the nation, Redes Energéticas Nacionais, reported that conditions of wind and waves were generating the entirety of Portugal's energy supply. While they originally hoped they would last a whole day, the conditions carried on for another five days. During certain periods, the clean energy production was so high that Portugal's grids were exporting power to neighboring Spain.

“The gas plants were there, waiting to dispatch energy, should it be needed. It was not, because the wind was blowing; it was raining a lot,” Hugo Costa, who oversees Portugal for EDP Renewables, told Canary Media. “And we were producing with a positive impact to the consumers because the prices have dropped dramatically, almost to zero.”

With a population of 10 million people, having powered the entire country with renewable energy is a commendable feat. In total, there were 149 hours of renewable energy generation. Out of those, 95 hours had Portugal exporting energy to the Spanish grids. This is in line with their previous achievement in March 2023, when renewable sources generated 103% of total energy consumption.

For now, it is also reassuring that electrical grids are reliable enough to work with both traditional and clean energy. “The key conclusion, in my opinion, is that it shows that the Portuguese grid is prepared for very high shares of renewable electricity and for its expected variation: We were able to manage both the sharp increase of hydro and wind production, and also the return to a lower share of renewables, when natural-gas power plants were requested again to supply some of the country’s demand,” Miguel Prado, a journalist covering Portugal’s energy sector, told Canary Media.

Portugal has pledged a 2050 deadline for net-zero carbon emissions. To get closer to its goal, the country is now looking to take steps like investing in deepwater offshore wind farms. With some luck, the six-day period record will be broken often in the coming years, until one day, clean energy simply becomes the standard.