physics

Renewable energy in Portugal

Renewable energy in Portugal is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Renewable energy in Portugal rather than just read about it. In short: Renewable energy in Portugal was the source for 25.7% of total energy consumption in 2013. In 2014, 27% of Portugal's energy needs were supplied by renewable sources.

Key takeaways

Renewable energy in Portugal belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Renewable energy in Portugal to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Renewable energy in Portugal from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Renewable energy in Portugal was the source for 25.7% of total energy consumption in 2013. In 2014, 27% of Portugal's energy needs were supplied by renewable sources. In 2016, 28% of final energy consumption in Portugal came from renewable sources. Portugal aims to be climate neutral by 2050 and to cover 80% of its electricity consumption with renewables by 2030. In 2018, Portugal committed to close all of the country's coal producing facilities by 2030, making it almost completely reliant on renewable energy in the coming years. As of 2019, coal still provided 40% of Portugal's electricity needs. The last Portuguese coal power plant closed on 19 November 2021.

Development During February 2016, an equivalent to 95% of electricity consumed in Portugal was produced by renewable sources such as biomass, hydropower, wind power and solar power. A total of 4139 GWh was produced by these sources. In May 2016, all of Portugal's electricity was produced renewably for a period of over four days, a landmark achievement for a modern European country. The renewable energy produced in Portugal fell from 55.5% of the total electricity produced in 2016 to 41.8% in 2017, due to the drought of 2017, which severely affected the production of hydro electricity. The sources of the renewable energy produced in Portugal in 2017 were wind power with 21.6% of the total (up from 20.7% in 2016), hydro power with 13.3% (down from 28.1% in 2016), bioenergy with 5.1% (same as in 2016), solar power with 1.6% (up from 1.4% in 2016), geothermal energy with 0.4% (up from 0.3% in 2016) and a small amount of wave power in the Azores. 24% of the energy produced in the Azores is geothermal. On July 14, 2020, EDP announced it would be closing the country's largest coal-fired power station, in Sines, by January 2021. In effect, Sines's power plant was closed on 15 January 2021, nearly ten years earlier than initially forecasted. The plant was responsible for 12% of all greenhouse emissions in Portugal, and its closure meant the biggest decrease in polluting emissions in the country's history. The Pego coal plant was the only coal-fired facility functioning until 19 November 2021 when it too was shut down. It is estimated that around 20,000 jobs will be created until 2030 in the solar-photovoltaic industry alone, with EDP having announced an investment of 24 billion Euros in the renewable industry until 2026, mostly directed at wind, solar and green hydrogen production.

Hydro power

As of 2020, hydroelectricity accounted for 28% of the total amount of electricity produced in Portugal from renewable sources. The largest hydroelectric power station is at the Alto Lindoso dam, with a capacity of 630 MW. Portugal has about 100 small hydro systems, with a capacity of 256 MW, which produce 815 GWh/year.

Wind power

At the end of 2018, wind power capacity in Continental Portugal was 5,368 MW. In 2020, wind powered energy was responsible for 24% of electricity production. Portugal combines wind and hydropower by using nighttime winds to pump water uphill and sending the water back through generators to produce power the next day, the so-called pumped-storage hydroelectricity.

Solar power

At the end of 2018, solar power had a total installed capacity of 828 MW. It represented 2.2% of total power generation in 2019.

Geothermal power

Portugal's main investment for the use of this type of energy is in the Azores. Small scale use of this energy source began in the 1980s in Chaves and S. Pedro do Sul, Continental Portugal providing 3 MWt. In the Azores the use of geothermal energy is widespread, with production in eight of the nine islands, collectively producing some 235.5 MWt. In 2003, 25% of the electricity consumed in São Miguel was produced by geothermal energy.

Wave power

Aguçadoura Wave Farm was the world's first commercial wave farm when it opened on 23 September 2008. It was located three miles (5 km) offshore near Póvoa de Varzim north of Porto. The farm used three Pelamis wave energy converters to convert the motion of the ocean surface waves into electricity. The wave farm was shut down in November 2008, just over two months after the official opening. In the 2010s, a local company, Wave Roller, installed many devices along the coast to make use of the water power.

Biogas In 2011, Portugal produced 45 ktoe (kiloton of oil equivalent) of biogas.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Renewable energy in Portugal

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Renewable energy in Portugal claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Renewable energy in Portugal before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Renewable energy in Portugal ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Renewable energy in Portugal

In research: Renewable energy in Portugal appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Renewable energy in Portugal in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Renewable energy in Portugal is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Renewable energy in Portugal, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Renewable energy in Portugal outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Renewable energy in Portugal in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Renewable energy in Portugal means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Renewable energy in Portugal out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Renewable energy in Portugal in simple terms?

Renewable energy in Portugal was the source for 25.7% of total energy consumption in 2013. In 2014, 27% of Portugal's energy needs were supplied by renewable sources.

Why does Renewable energy in Portugal matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Renewable energy in Portugal?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Renewable energy in Portugal.