by Sergio Goncalves
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal is “totally opposed” to the European Union’s proposal to cut gas consumption because it would hamper electricity generation from gas-fired plants as the country faces an extreme drought , Secretary of State for Energy Joao Galamba said Thursday.
The EU on Wednesday asked member states to reduce their gas consumption by 15% until March as an emergency measure after President Vladimir Putin warned that Russian supplies sent to Europe via Nord Stream 1 could be further reduced or even discontinued.
Joao Galamba told the Expresso newspaper that the EU proposal did not take into account the specific hydropower needs of Spain and Portugal, which, due to the current drought, have been forced to produce more electricity. through gas-fired power plants.
The proposal “is disproportionate and untenable” because it would lead to power cuts, he added.
The Iberian Peninsula, which does not depend on gas routed by pipeline from Russia, remains an energy “island” with little energy interconnection with the rest of Europe, Joao Galamba said.
Meanwhile in Spain, Energy Minister Teresa Ribera said on Thursday that the Spanish government will not ask its citizens to reduce their gas consumption.
(Report Sergio Goncalves; French version Elena Vardon, edited by Kate Entringer)
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