The year 2022 stood out positively for the increase, by around 68%, in renewable production from solar energy, resulting from a significant increase in the installed capacity. Despite representing only 5.6% of Portugal’s total electricity production, the path is being paved for photovoltaic solar power plants to become one of the pillars of the national electricity system. Additionally, the year was marked by the extreme drought observed, which led to the lowest hydropower production in the last 10 years, registering a decrease of 45% compared to 2021. This resulted in a decrease in renewable production and an increase in electricity imports compared to the previous year.
In 2022, with regard to the renewable electricity generation sector, it represented 56.3% of total electricity generation in Portugal (44,047 GWh), in a year classified as extremely hot regarding temperature and dry regarding precipitation, having registered an average hydroelectric producibility index of 0.63, an average wind producibility index of 0.99, and an average solar producibility index of 1.06.
Despite the extreme drought, the month of December stood out, ending the year with a month of high renewable productivity, which ensured 78% of electricity generation, the highest monthly value recorded in 2022, leading to a total of 328 non-consecutive hours of 100% renewable generation, when only 126 hours had been registered until December. This fact resulted from a marked wind and hydroelectric productivity, thus demonstrating the high resilience of the national electrical system given high levels of renewable integration.
Given the extreme drought and high prices for natural gas, the import balance was the highest in the last 14 years, representing an increase of 49% compared to 2021 and corresponding to an import balance of 9,258 GWh.
The generation of renewable electricity, in 2022, added important gains for the national economy and environment, as it allowed: (i) the saving of around €5,103 million in fossil fuel imports (natural gas, fuel oil and diesel), (ii) the saving of €582 million in CO₂ emission allowances and (iii) the reduction of 8.3 million tons of CO₂-eq.