Hydropower and wind power are important in Portugal. Hydropower, in large power plants,
is mainly produced in the finest hours of the diagram of consumption. Wind power is
intermittent and volatile, and may have highly variable yields throughout the day. In
general the production of wind energy is more intense at night than during the day, which
poses difficulties for the management of the electric grid, due to difficulty in discontinuing
the thermal power plants. Thus, their proper use can only be done using hydropower plants
with pumping water capacity installed. The hydroelectric power installed, which had a
weight of 81% in 1960, fall to 29% in 2009. In contrast the wind power installed rose from
76 MW in 2000 to 3841 MW in September 2010. Portugal, following the UE directives,
should have in 2010 a coverage rate of 39 % from renewable energy sources (RES) for the
gross energy produced.
Author
Saraiva, António
Keywords
Energias renováveis,
Energia hidroeléctrica,
Energia eólica,
Renewable energy,
Hydropower energy,
Wind energy
