http://www.iflscience.com/portugal-powered-four-days-straight-entirely-renewable-energy
[links in on-line article]
Portugal Powered For Four Days Straight Entirely By Renewable Energy
May 19, 2016 | by Josh L Davis
Just a few days after it was found that Germany was producing so much
energy from renewables that they effectively had to pay consumers to use
it, yet another country has hit another renewable milestone. Portugal
managed to keep its lights on for four consecutive days, powered only by
renewables.
Data analysis of the country’s national energy network figures reveal
that all electricity consumption was covered by solar, wind, and hydro
power from 6.45 a.m UTC on Saturday, May 7 until 5.45 p.m UTC Wednesday,
May 11. This impressive feat is just one of a number to have come out of
Europe over the last year or so, from Germany last week, to Denmark last
year breaking its own record by generating 42 percent of its electricity
in 2015 by wind power alone.
“This is a significant achievement for a European country, but what
seems extraordinary today will be commonplace in Europe in just a few
years,” explains James Watson, the CEO of SolarPower Europe, to The
Guardian. “The energy transition process is gathering momentum and
records such as this will continue to be set and broken across Europe.”
The country has come a long way in its commitments to reducing its
reliance on fossil fuels and switching to more sustainable energy
sources. With the milestone being hit in the spring, the energy
companies hope that summer will be equally as successful. And all this
from a country that only three years ago generated half of its energy
from burning fuel, and almost a third from nuclear. By last year,
however, they managed to turn things around, so that now renewables on
average account for just under half of all electricity generation.
“These data show that Portugal can be more ambitious in a transition to
a net consumption of electricity from 100% renewable, with huge
reductions in emissions of greenhouse gasses, which cause global warming
and consequently climate change,” said the Portuguese sustainability
NGO, Zero, in a statement. The recent 107-hour stretch has been put down
not just to favorable weather conditions, but also better management of
the energy grid.
Portugal just goes to show that it is entirely possible to rapidly shift
from a nation heavily reliant on fossil fuels, to one which can be
powered in large parts by renewables, despite what many opponents say.
This milestone is another marker, of which many more will come over the
following months and years, as more and more nations not just in Europe
but around the world embrace clean energy.
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