This Country May Reach Its Renewable Energy Goal Four Years Early!

Portugal’s newly elected government is bringing forward the country’s decarbonization goal of having 80% of renewables in electricity production to 2026, instead of 2030, in an effort to free itself from fossil fuels.

A high level of production and consumption of electricity from renewable energy sources “is the best way to guarantee that Portugal won’t be dependent on fossil fuel imports and the best way to have stable and low electricity prices”, says Portugal’s secretary of state for energy, João Galamba.“It has become clear that we need a significant acceleration in the transition from fossil to renewable energy sources in this decade and that solar will continue to play a key role in this process.”

Between 2010 and 2022, the share of renewables in electricity production went from 41% to 58%. For the government’s goal to be reached four years earlier than planned, all photovoltaic plant projects with a capacity of under 50MW will no longer need environmental impact assessment, thus accelerating solar parks faster. As of 2021, Portugal’s solar capacity was around 1.5GW, and the country aims at increasing that capacity to at least 9GW by 2030.