Gas consumption in Portugal maintains a downward trend, falling by 16.7% between last August and January this year, below the European target of 15%, mainly due to a drop in conventional use, it announced on Wednesday. ADENE.
The data has been made public by the Energy Agency (ADENE) which, in the fifth progress report of the 2022-2023 Energy Saving Plan for the period from August to January of this year, highlights a reduction in global gas consumption 16.7% compared to the historical. average of the last five homologous periods.
This percentage compares with the decrease of 12.9% between last August and December and the objective of the European Union (EU) in force until the end of this month, of a 15% reduction in the consumption of gas to avoid supply interruptions given geopolitical tensions over the war in Ukraine.
ADENE highlights that the decrease observed between August and January 2023 “was strongly felt in conventional consumption, with a reduction of 23.4%, while in the consumption component, due to the production of energy through thermoelectric plants, there was a saving of 6.5%”.
Due to such decreases, Portugal has already reached a 77.5% percentage of compliance with the objective established in the 2022-2023 Energy Saving Plan by the end of 2023 (17%), adds the agency.
With the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) dedicated in part to the energy aspect, ADENE also points out that, so far, the measures implemented in the field of PRR communications are equivalent to 33.3% of the target set at the end of the year 2022.
On Tuesday, the European Commission announced that it intends to extend, beyond this month of March, the target of Member States to reduce gas consumption in the EU by 15% and the obligation to reduce electricity consumption at peak times.
The objective of voluntarily reducing gas consumption in the EU by 15% came into force last August, and is expected to last until the spring of 2023, to increase storage in the Member States and create a ‘cushion’ against a possible disruption of Russian supply. .
The objective is that, until March 31, 2023, the Member States reduce their consumption of natural gas by 15% (with respect to the historical average in that period, considering the years 2017 to 2021), from to increase the level of European storage and create a safety “cushion” for emergency situations.
Source: Observadora
