SmartGridNews.com The insider's guide to the modernization and automation of electric power
Ambition and Guts Department: Portugal's Grid to be Powered by 45% Renewables By SGN Staff Aug 11, 2010 - 2:47:13 PM
. By Doug Peeples SGN News Editor .
Guess what, folks. Portugal's making us look bad. The little southwestern European country on the Iberian Peninsula, about the size of the state of Maine, will get 45% of its electricity from renewable energy sources this year, a huge leap from 17% just five years ago, according to the New York Times. Just for comparison: About 5% of U.S. electrical power came from newer types of renewables last year (excluding hydropower). Granted, the European energy climate is quite different from ours: heftier incentives to develop and use renewables and EU policies discouraging fossil fuels use. And, of course, many European countries, including Portugal, have no real fossil fuel resources to speak of.
Still, the Portuguese government's aggressive clean energy transformation, which began when a new government took over in 2005, has been surprising: Land-based wind energy has grown seven times in that time period and the country aims to be the first to deploy a national EV charging station network next year. The country also is developing its considerable river power resources and conducted a radical overhaul of its electric grid.
But it's all come at a price. The Portuguese have for a long time paid about twice what Americans pay for electricity and their rates have gone up about 15% in the last five years, likely at least partially because of the renewable energy program, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Complaining about electricity rates appears to have become a Portuguese national pastime, and the government's popularity has taken a beating for it. There's a lot more to the story, but the IEA pretty much summed up what Portugal has done in a 2009 report that said while the country's renewable program was a "remarkable success, " it also said "It is not fully clear that their costs, both financial and economic, as well as their impact on final consumer energy prices, are well understood and appreciated."
Portugal's renewables program is a stunning accomplishment, but the IEA's somewhat vague assessment seems to carry a not so hidden message. In its rush to go green, we wonder if the Portuguese government might not have adequately considered, as the IEA said, the big picture: financial and economic impacts and, yes, the consumer.
You might also be interested in ...
3TIER Completes REmapping the World™
Renewable Energy Technologies News
Stay connected with SGN …
Smart Grid Discussions: Get LinkedIn with Jesse
Subscribe to our FREE eMail News Alert!
Smart Grid Newsletter (SGN) is the insider's guide to the Smart Grid revolution. It consists of a FREE bi-monthly email summary, along with a companion Web site that contains the full stories and other helpful materials. Benefits of subscribing: SGN is the only central source for all of the news, trends, research and marketplace information relevant to grid automation. In it, you will read about cutting edge technologies; successful pioneers and how they got ahead; regulatory changes that could unleash new markets; the latest research; and new opportunities for sales of grid-related products and services. © Copyright 2009 SmartGridNews.com |