Portugal runs for four days straight on renewable energy alone

lstar337

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/18/portugal-runs-for-four-days-straight-on-renewable-energy-alone

Electricity consumption in the country was fully covered by solar, wind and hydro power in an extraordinary 107-hour run that lasted from 6.45am on Saturday 7 May until 5.45pm the following Wednesday

edinburgher

Excellent, great to see another positive story for renewables :T

jimjames

I saw this story and thought it would be of interest here, thanks for posting!

Cardew

No doubt helped by this:

A large photovoltaic power project, the Serpa solar power plant, has been completed in Portugal, in one of the Europe's sunniest areas.[1] The 11 megawatt plant covers 150 acres (0.61 km2) and comprises 52,000 PV panels. The panels are raised 2 metres off the ground and the area will remain productive grazing land. The project will provide enough energy for 8,000 homes and will save an estimated 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.[2][3]

See Post #1834 in this thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3325628

Of course this was in the days on MSE when The Guru argued against solar farms on all manner of grounds. Read many of the earlier posts for illustration - far too many 'pearls of wisdom' to quote.

Martyn1981

Similar news story from Germany, though for a shorter period, and a good demonstration of the need for interconnectors, and (going forward) storage:-

Renewable energy just provided Germany with almost all of its power

Germany Just Got Almost All of Its Power From Renewable Energy

Mart.

ed110220

Great news!

Talking of better interconnections, earlier in the year a US study was published that showed the potential to cut power station greenhouse gas emissions by 80% of 1990 levels by 2030 without raising costs simply by improving electricity transmission across the country to smooth the variability of renewable power.

Basically in a country as big as the USA, it's always going to be either windy or sunny somewhere. So it may be windy in the Dakotas while it's calm in Florida or sunny in California while it's dark in New York for example.

I don't see why it should be any different in Europe.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/better-power-lines-would-help-us-supercharge-renewable-energy-study-suggests