Portugal conducted an experiment in which the country used only renewable energy for 107 hours: from Saturday morning (May 7) to Wednesday evening (May 11).
The experiment was carried out by two associations involved in sustainable land management (Associação Sistema Terrestre Sustentável) and renewable energy (Associação Portuguesa de Energias Renováveis, APREN). All the country's energy needs were met with the help of the sun, wind and water. Successful results - providing 100% of the required amount of energy - were achieved not only thanks to the country's own resources, but also through the use of interconnecting power lines with neighboring states, in particular Spain and France.
As of 2013 (according to Eurostat), in Portugal, only about 13% of electricity was generated by hydroelectric power plants, 7.5% by wind, 3% by solar. Last year, the situation changed: wind farms already provided 22%, and all renewable energy sources together - 48%.
The authors of the experiment argue that its results suggest that "Portugal can be more ambitious in switching to 100 percent renewable energy, which will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
See also anekdotig:
- Newsletter: " Georgy Ermolenko, HSE University: Renewable Energy in the World and in Russia " (December 3, 2015)
- Newsletter: " Kochi Airport (India) is the first in the world to operate entirely on solar energy " (August 24, 2015)
- Newsletter: “ During a strong wind in Denmark, all the necessary electricity is produced by windmills ” (July 14, 2015)