Portugal would have one of the lowest energy bills in the world if it had opted for nuclear
The Portuguese may have one of the lowest electricity bills in the world if, in the past, the country had bet on nuclear energy.
The thesis is defended in statements Renaissance by Pedro Sampaio Nunes, a specialist in nuclear energy who, in 2006, defends the installation of a nuclear power plant in Portugal.
“If we had done what is right, we would have had the lowest prices in the world at this time, if we had joined nuclear power”, says Sampaio Nunes who, however, admits that, at this point, it makes little sense to go back to that idea in Portugal.
This week, French President Emmanuel Macron pointed out the bet on nuclear power as the best strategy to guarantee carbon neutrality until 2050, without compromising the country’s future energy needs.
In the Portuguese case, the idea of a nuclear power plant “made sense in 2006. In fact, we had investors and financiers and, at that time, it made perfect sense”.
Renewables ensure up to 65% of the electricity consumed in Portugal
When comparing the Portuguese situation to the intention expressed by France, Sampaio Nunes adds that Portugal has “a concern about the installed capacity with wind energy and a wave of intentions to invest in photovoltaic energy. Therefore, at this moment, there is no capacity to mobilize investors and financiers for a technology that has very high initial costs, which has a very long and very expensive licensing period and which requires heavy investments during construction”.
João Peças Lopes, full professor at the Faculty of Engineering of Porto and associate director of INESC-TEC, makes an identical reading.
For this researcher, “it makes no sense to include a nuclear power plant in the Portuguese electro-producer portfolio”, because “60 to 65% of the electricity we consume comes from renewable sources”, hence, according to him, “a commitment to nuclear energy for production electricity production in Portugal, it doesn’t make any sense, because we currently have an electro-production system that, for some years now, has started a trajectory of bet on renewable energies for the production of electricity. I’m talking about wind energy, hydroelectricity, biomass and, more recently, solar photovoltaic production”.
Having lost the opportunity to bet on nuclear energy, Peças Lopes and Sampaio Nunes converge on the idea that a bet on energies from the wind and the sun will be the most sustainable for Portugal, and also the one that will lower the electricity bill the most. end of the month.
João Peças Lopes is more favorable to photovoltaics, as there is not much more space on land for wind towers.
Sampaio Nunes believes that it will be enough for Portugal to fill 0.3% of its earth’s surface with photovoltaics to ensure all the electricity we need.