End of the road in sight for combustible energy?

PORTUGAL set a new energy benchmark last week after running on renewable energy alone for four consecutive days.

Electricity consumption was covered entirely by solar, wind and hydro power during a 107-hour stint between Saturday May 7 and Wednesday May 11.

Oliver Joy, a spokesman for the Wind Europe trade association said: “We are seeing trends like this spread across Europe – last year with Denmark and now in Portugal. The Iberian peninsula is a great resource for renewables and wind energy, not just for the region but for the whole of Europe.”

According to Eurostat, Portugal was heavily reliant on combustibles just three years ago, with 27 per cent of its power coming from nuclear sources, 13 per cent from hydro, 7.5 per cent from wind, and 3 per cent from solar, but by 2015 clean energy provided 48 per cent of the country’s needs.

The extraordinary news follows Germany’s announcement that renewable energy powered almost all its electricity demands on Sunday May 15, with prices even turning negative at some points during the day, while the UK recently celebrated its first-ever week of electricity without burning any coal.

Joy said: “An increased build-out of interconnectors, a reformed electricity market and political will are all essential. 

“But with the right policies in place, wind could meet a quarter of Europe’s power needs in the next 15 years.”

In 2015, wind power met 42 per cent of electricity demand in Denmark, 20 per cent in Spain, 13 per cent in Germany and 11 per cent in the UK.