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Wrong take, and a prime example of the national sport of being overly negative and pessimistic. Portugal did go early into the wind power game. It had its cost
by sergiosgc 3y ago
Wrong take, and a prime example of the national sport of being overly negative and pessimistic.
Portugal did go early into the wind power game. It had its costs but also produced know-how and a relevant industry stake in that market.
The solar installation effort was much better timed. Solar being fed into the grid is a lot cheaper than other sources, except for hydro (built in the 60s/70s, mostly already paid for).
The current push will create 40GW of capacity, for a country that uses 9GW peak. It should be enough to run the country 100% on renewables. That's a game changer.
Remove oil/gas imports from the national trade balance, and Portugal is suddenly a very very rich country.
- landemva 3y ago> Remove oil/gas imports from the national trade balance, and Portugal is suddenly a very very rich country. Is energy that much of typical person's spend? And internal creation of energy doesn't drop the cost to consumers to zero.
- sergiosgc 3y agoIt is a relevant portion of a personal budget, if you include transportation costs. On a national level, though, it's huge. Portugal imports all of its oil and gas, and has a trade balance that is permanently on the slightly negative side. Energy is a very easy way to fix that, with excellent economic second order effects.