Manuel de Almeida / LUSA
The Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho
Minister explains the two tranches of the new package and reminds why the price of electricity in Portugal does not rise.
The Minister of Environment and Energy emphasizes that Portugal does not suffer many consequences, in the price of electricityfluctuations in the price of oil and gas.
“In the first three months of this year we had more than 80% renewable in electricity production. We are in first place in the European Union and, in Europe, we are only behind Norway – which has a lot of hydropower, it gets almost all its electricity from hydropower”.
Maria da Graça Carvalho reinforced that the electricity price in Portugal “is rarely dictated by the price of gas; it is dictated by the price of renewables and therefore these increases (in gas at a global level) have no consequence on the price of electricity.”
“There has been no price increase, precisely because we made this great effort, across the country, over the last 15 years, to make a large increase in the incorporation of renewables in electricity production. So, in this aspect, we are protected and more comfortable than other countries.”
Electrical support
The Minister of the Environment announced that the next package ofand support the purchase of electric vehicles will have 20 million euros, but not for now.
It will be support in two phases: 10 million euros, “at the latest” by June 11th; the second phase will come later – don’t know whenbecause the Government awaits developments in the war in Iran and the consequences on fuel prices.
Precisely because of the conflict, the Government is “financing through Environmental Fund taxis, ambulances, transport, goods, solidarity cylinders, there is a series of support that comes from the Environmental Fund. We don’t know what the evolution will be, so we are always very cautious in relation to Environmental Fund issues.”
And the money from this Environmental Fund is also being used to finance a large part of the repair work following the storms;, especially on the coast, in the most urgent areas. “So, we have to have very careful management” of the Environmental Fund.
In short, regarding support for trams: “The 10 million let’s move on nowbecause they also help with the Iran issue; therefore, the more electric there are, the less consumption of fossil fuels we will have, which is one of our objectives”.
“If the international geopolitical situation helps, we can soon open the other 10 million”, commented the minister.
Maria da Graça Carvalho also explained that this support is for vehicles purchased from January 1, 2025. Anyone who bought an electric car last year can compete now.
