Renewable energy in Portugal

One of the interesting things about driving through Europe is observing the differences between countries. We started our journey in the UK where you are starting to see some wind farms. Then we traveled through France and Spain where there are more wind farms. But when you reach Portugal the wind farms are everywhere. And they are different. The wind turbines are prominent on top of ridges and within 20 KM of the major population centres.  They are not hidden away like they seem to be in other countries. So I looked at the figures and there is indeed and interesting story here. In 2005 José Sócrates became Prime Minister he was a passionate advocate of the uptake of renewable energy. Under his leadership there was a massive investment in renewable energy wind, solar wave and geothermal.

This investment has paid off it was announced in April that Portugal generated more than 70 percent of its electricity from renewable sources of energy during the first quarter of 2013. This record amount was fueled largely by hydroelectric and wind energy sources.

This is not only good news for Portugal but for the rest of the world. It shows that it is possible to achieve real progress towards complete self sufficiency in renewable energy. It is especially relevant for Australia given the similarities between the climate in both countries i.e. hours of sunshine and wind.

Highly Visible Wind farm in Portugal 

Solar Farm

More Reading

http://e360.yale.edu/digest/green_sources_meet_70_percent_of_portugal_electricity_in_quarter/3817/