Portugal's renewable energy production's track record has been severely tarnished by the continuing and serious drought that has hit hydro-electric energy production.
The Renewable Energy Association, APREN, reports that in the first nine months of 2017, the decrease in the production of renewable electricity in mainland Portugal has forced up the price of electricity by 28% to €50.4 per MWh in contrast to a price at the same time last year of €39.4 per MWh.
In the year to September 2017, the share of renewable electricity production in Portugal was down to 42.3% when over recent years, renewables have accounted for more than 50% of national electricity production.
This reversal of this admirable trend is down to the drought as hydroelectric plants have not been able to produce, with many dams and reservoirs holding barely enough water to keep the fish alive.
APREN revealed that the renewable energy source that contributed the most in the first nine months of the year, was wind energy (21.3%). Next came water (14.3%), bio-energy (5.1%) and photovoltaic solar, with just 1.6%.
In the same period, the production of energy from fossil fuel and cogeneration power stations was 57.7% of the overall mix.
APREN stated that for September, wind power generation was 28% up on last year, "reinforcing the stability and reliability of electric supply from Portugal’s wind farms."
The second half of September saw a reversal of the electricity export trend to Spain as EDP was caught cheating.
This is related to an insistence by the government that electricity producers and exporters, which have to pay Portugal’s ‘Extraordinary Contribution from the Energy Sector’ levy and support the 33.8% discounted Social Tariff for poorer customers, may not recoup these taxes by concealing them in their customers’ bills, as has been the case with EDP which has overcharged customers €500 million in a scam that started in 2007.
This has hit Portuguese thermal and hydroelectric energy export competitiveness compared to Spanish produced energy supplies.