Portugal produced 4.3 terawatt hours of electricity from “green” energy sources in April, according to ENTSO-E data. This is 91 percent. Electricity generated by the entire energy sector in this country. This class continues in May. Just one year ago, the percentage in April was 73.3%, and in May it was 71.8%. Okay, but what about the prices? Can the average Portuguese be happy with the fact that energy is “green”?
This is confirmed by the electricity price map as of Friday. In Europe, Portugal is more expensive than its counterparts: Finland, France and Spain. Prices in Poland are three times higher than in Portugal on that day.
Moreover, as we checked Poland’s average daily electricity price was 820% higher this year. Higher than Portuguese. The peak was in the second half of February, when our prices exceeded 100 euros, and Portuguese prices even less than 5 euros.
However, renewable energy sources offer lower prices. So why do prices in our country not fall significantly due to the rapid development of wind farms and photovoltaics, but remain among the highest on the continent? Let’s first look at what renewable energy is used in Portugal.
Read also: There was nothing like this in Poland. Photovoltaic module from Szczecin
Portugal produced an average of 87% this year. Energy from green sourcesincluding 23 percent of riverine hydropower plants, 23 percent of wind, 14 percent of pumped power plants, 10 percent of water reservoirs, and only 4 percent of photovoltaics.
The transcript continues below the video
Power plants, pumped tanks and storage are critical to the price. These power plants act as energy storage facilities. In Portugal, which is more mountainous than Poland, there are more suitable places to build. You can store energy in such tanks for a time (using electricity to fill the tanks) that is produced, for example, by photovoltaics during peak sunlight hours, or windmills on windy days, and return this energy (emptying the water tanks) when prices Higher or higher at other times there will be energy demand.
In Poland, pumped-storage power plants produced only 1.1%. energy this yearWater tanks are only 0.1%. Although in April and May it was already 35 percent. The energy came from “green” sources, and PSE repeatedly banned the operation of photovoltaics because they produced too much reported demand and there was nowhere to store them. Some coal-fired power plants simply cannot be downsized, that is, they cannot be scaled down any further without higher start-up costs, otherwise they would have to be closed. They have little flexibility in work.
Not Portugal, but Finland and France
However, it is not Portugal with its almost exclusively green energy that can serve as an example of a system providing cheap energy in Europe. here Finland and France are role models.
On Friday in Europe, these two countries had the lowest prices and have a lot in common when it comes to energy. This year, France produced almost as much energy from renewable energy sources as Poland, and even in April and May we produced more from green sources than the French, because in their case the percentage was less than 33%. In these two months, in our case 34 percent. The difference and the key to success lies in the corn.
The proportion of nuclear energy in France is 57.5%. Energy mix in 2024 In Finland, the share of nuclear energy reached 38% this year. Share in energy, renewable energy 44%. In this system, any excess energy from renewable energy sources is not regulated by exceptions, but by reductions in nuclear energy production. Hence, energy storage becomes unnecessary.
Read also: A Polish windmill can be built in two years. The company has money, but there is one thing missing
The “green” energy sector is very unstable and needs stabilizers in the form of nuclear, gas or coal power plants or energy reservoirs. In Poland this year, renewable energy produced at least 8.4% in one day. energy (February 28), and a maximum of 51.7 percent (February 4). On the first day, something had to be done to make up for the shortage of renewable energy sources, and on the second day, something had to be disabled so as not to cause an energy surplus. But in our case, the price of energy rises because power plants need to buy the rights to emit carbon dioxide. Tens of billions of zlotys are spent on this, most of which goes to the Polish state budget.
Author: Jacek Fracek, journalist at Business Insider Polska
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