In the first six months of 2022
Electric energy production increased by 11.4% year-on-year
In the first half of 2022, the electric energy production, estimated from the data on the distribution of electric energy provided by the Madeira Electricity Company, increased by 11.4% year-on-year.
After the 12.2% increase in the first quarter of the present year, the 2nd quarter of 2022 registered a recovery of 10.6% compared to the same period of the previous year, which is explained by the return of economic activity to its pre-pandemic trend.
Breaking down the data by source, which totaled around 440.8 Gigawatt hours (Gwh), it should be highlighted that, compared to in the first half of 2021, the electricity generated by hydropower decreased by 5.8%. This decline was offset by the growth in production through other sources, mainly by wind power (+33.5%), urban solid waste power (+31.4%), thermal power (+9.3%) and photovoltaics (+0.9%). Consequently, the share of distributed energy using thermal sources went from 60.3% in the first six months of 2021 to 59.1% in the reference period, which means that the production of renewable energy slightly increased to a share of 40.9% in the first half of 2022 (39.7% year-on-year).
It should also be mentioned that the production of natural gas represented 17.6% of the total production mix (21.4% in the same period in 2021), despite an 8.1% decrease year-on-year.
