It is obvious that Europe’s visible fragility to these shocks (which is no different from several other regions of the world) worries the Community Executive.
In the message in which he revealed the extra amount paid by Europe for the war, the European Commissioner for Energy and Environment, Dan Jørgensen, said that it is necessary to ensure that the EU becomes “truly independent in terms of energy”. In other words, it is necessary to “change the course of things”.
The question that arises is that Portugal had already begun to change its life, to decarbonize its economy, to free itself from dependence on hydrocarbons.
Last year, renewable sources (with particular relevance to wind and hydro) supplied 68% of national electrical consumption. This is an impressive percentage, even though it represents a slight drop compared to the 71% recorded in 2024, due to the record increase in total consumption (53.1TWh), which forced greater use of natural gas plants.
But that percentage doesn’t tell the whole story. To obtain the Gross Final Energy Consumption of any country, it is necessary to take into account energy expenditure on transport and heating/cooling.
This is why we have come to the conclusion that the share of renewables in ALL of our energy consumption is approximately 36.5%. Still, it is a brand that pushes Portugal to seventh place in the EU countries with the highest share of renewables in total final consumption.
The word “transport” is key. Portugal’s effort towards the independence and sustainability of its energy sources, a bet that the Portuguese taxpayer has paid (and well) since the beginning of the 2000s, has not been accompanied by an electrification of its vehicle fleet (whether in private transport or in heavy goods vehicles).
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