Renewable Energy in Portugal: An undervalued success story

Hydropower, wind, solar lead the way, but energy stocks still missing the rally

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Portugal’s Alta da Coutada Wind Farm. Photo: EDPR.

(Nick Godt is a native of France and a freelance journalist covering global financial markets, economics and climate change. He has worked at MarketWatch, TheStreet.com and Money Media. His work has appeared in The Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.)

LISBON (Callaway Climate Insights) — When the power plants of Sines and Pego, both within a 200-mile radius of Lisbon, shut down in 2021, Portugal became the fourth European country to fully abandon coal-powered energy production.

Three years later and Portugal is one of a handful of European countries, along with Sweden and Greece, to be on track to meet or exceed its greenhouse gas reductions targets by 2030.

Renewable energy production is also on track to provide its highest-ever share of the small Iberian country’s electricity consumption.