APREN Logs a 72.7% Renewable Share for Continental Electricity in May as €442 Million in Avoided Gas Imports Anchors the January-May Bill
APREN logs renewables at 72.7% of continental Portugal's May electricity (76.3% YTD). 79 hours ran 100% renewable. €442M in avoided gas imports anchors a €1.08B January-May offset bill as MIBEL averages €44.5/MWh year-to-date.
The Associação Portuguesa de Energias Renováveis (Portuguese Renewable Energy Association, APREN) logged renewable sources at 72.7% of mainland Portugal's electricity generation in May 2026, with 2,651 gigawatt-hours of renewable output flowing into the grid against a total monthly draw of 3,648 GWh. The print pushes the year-to-date renewable share to 76.3%, leaving Portugal third in Europe behind Norway (96.7%) and Denmark (94.3%) — the same podium Lisbon held at the end of 2025.
The May Source Mix
The May breakdown shows hydroelectric at 24.0% of generation — boosted by spring reservoir spill-down that the Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente (Portuguese Environment Agency, APA) had flagged as above-average for the period — wind at 22.8%, solar photovoltaic at 19.8%, and bioenergy at 6.0%. The non-renewable balance comprised natural-gas generation at Sines, the Tejo gas-fired plants, and a small co-generation slice.
Hours at 100% Renewable
System operator REN (Redes Energéticas Nacionais, the national grid operator) logged 79 non-consecutive hours of full renewable supply during May, taking the year-to-date count to 737 hours — already past half the 2025 full-year total. Most of the 100% renewable windows clustered around windy nights and high-solar weekends when industrial demand fell below the renewable baseline.
The Avoided-Cost Tally
APREN's estimate of the macroeconomic offset puts avoided natural-gas imports at €442 million for the January-May period, with a further €351 million in avoided electricity imports through the cross-border interconnections with Spain, and €290 million in avoided emission-allowance costs under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The combined €1.08 billion of avoided outflow is the figure APREN now uses in its Lisbon advocacy for an accelerated grid build-out.
What It Did to Wholesale Prices
The Mercado Ibérico de Electricidade (Iberian Electricity Market, MIBEL) baseload averaged €86.1 per megawatt-hour in May, with the year-to-date average at €44.5 per MWh — 27.2% below the corresponding 2025 period. The May number was lifted by a brief mid-month cold snap and gas-set marginal pricing during low-wind hours; the year-to-date average is the metric APREN cites when arguing the merit-order effect of incremental renewable capacity.
The Capacity Gap Still to Close
In a statement attached to the data release, APREN said Portugal "continues establishing itself as a leading European renewable incorporator" while flagging that "urgent investment and removal of current obstacles remain essential." The standing list of obstacles centres on the queue of solar photovoltaic and storage projects awaiting REN connection slots, and the lengthy environmental review process running through APA.
The May numbers land alongside DGEG (Direção-Geral de Energia e Geologia, the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology) data showing 16.9 GW of installed renewable capacity in mainland Portugal at end-May, against the 2030 Plano Nacional Energia e Clima (National Energy and Climate Plan, PNEC) target of 30.5 GW. The Ministério do Ambiente e Energia (Ministry of Environment and Energy) is preparing the next solar-PV auction round for the third quarter of 2026 — the principal lever the government still controls for closing the gap.
