In the 1st quarter of 2025
Electricity production in the Autonomous Region of Madeira increased by 2.8%, with a strong contribution from renewable sources
The electricity production in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, estimated based on electricity distribution data provided by the Madeira Electricity Company (Empresa de Eletricidade da Madeira – EEM), increased by 2.8% in the 1st quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in the previous year.
An analysis of the electricity production mix during this period – which totalled approximately 235.2 Gigawatt hours (GWh) – reveals a greater contribution from hydroelectric energy sources (+64.5%) and urban solid waste (+14.9%), compared to the same period from January to March 2024. Conversely, the use of wind power (-20.7%), thermal (-3.0%), and solar photovoltaic (-0.1%) sources decreased.
As a result, the share of total electricity generated from thermal sources fell from 55.2% in the 1st quarter of 2024 to 52.2% in the same quarter of 2025, meaning that the share of renewables reached 47.8% in this most recent period (compared to 44.8% in the corresponding quarter of the previous year). It is worth noting that this is the highest share of renewable energy in electricity generation recorded since the beginning of the available time series (1st quarter of 2009), surpassing the previous peak of 45.3%, recorded in the 1st quarter of 2022.
Finally, natural gas continued to play a prominent role in electricity production, accounting for 17.6% of the total, compared with 17.5% in the same period of 2024.
