2 min read
In an impressive turn of events, Portugal reached a clean energy milestone this past weekend. Solely powered by solar, wind, and hydro-generated electricity, the country ran completely on renewable energy for four consecutive days.
The project ran from 6:45am on May 7th until 5:45pm the following Wednesday, effectively destroying any previously set renewable records. The closest Portugal got to this achievement was back in 2011, when all of the country’s electricity demands were met by renewable energy for just a few hours. After this week, they shattered that record, maintaining 107 hours of clean energy sustainability.
Similar renewable trends are spreading across Europe: last year, Denmark had the world’s first island powered 100% by renewable energy. Just recently, on May 15th, Germany declared that clean energy powered almost all its electricity needs and that they actually had to pay consumers to use their electricity. In the UK, residents just had their first week of coal-free electricity generation. It’s only a matter of time until the entire European continent becomes a renewable powerhouse.
James Watson, CEO of SolarPower Europe, notes that the Portuguese energy experiment “is a significant achievement for a European country, but what seems extraordinary today will be commonplace in Europe in just a few years. The energy transition process is gathering momentum and records such as this will continue to be set and broken across Europe.”
Three years ago, Portugal was generating half of its electricity from combustible fuels and 27% from nuclear energy. The fact that they were able to switch to solar, wind, and hydro-generated sources in such as small amount of time is both astounding and inspiring.
Now, the country is looking into green energy’s export potential. Watson is certainly optimistic about these events: “The age of inflexible and polluting technologies is drawing to an end and power will increasingly be provided from clean, renewable sources.”
You might be wondering how Portugal began to assume such impressive leadership in the clean energy transition. The answer? Through powerful supportive policies comprised of feed-in tariffs. These tactics provide renewable electricity producers a guaranteed price for each megawatt-hour of energy fed into the country’s power grid.
Certainly, this initiative wouldn’t work so effortlessly elsewhere. Compared to the U.S. and our 320 million population, Portugal has about 10.8 million people. Geographically, it’s about the size of Maine.
While these milestones are setting a precedent for Europe, the majority of the U.S. continues to lag behind in renewable initiatives. There are a number of renewable rebates, certainly, and some states are really trying to cultivate solar developments, but there’s a lot to learn from the european solar leadership.
Impressed by Portugal? Want to run completely off of renewable, clean, and free energy? Call or contact us today at 407.331.9077. We’ll help you run solely off of solar for life.
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