Funchal, Portugal, May 26, 2026 (Lusa) – Portugal’s island of Madeira saved €26 million in fossil fuels in the first quarter of 2026 using renewable energy, the regional government president, Miguel Albuquerque, said on Tuesday.

"We have a significant renewable [energy production] capacity in Madeira. It is enough to say that in the first quarter of 2026 we saved nearly €26 million in [fossil] fuel due to the good performance of renewables, particularly hydropower," he said.

The head of the Madeira government, who also leads the regional structure of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), spoke at a conference in Funchal titled "The Importance of Renewable Gases in the Energy Transition - Gas as an Engine for Regional Development."

Albuquerque said the regional government continued to make "important investments" in the renewable energy sector, using EU structural funds and the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP, an EU recovery fund).

"The idea is to have a mixed system where fossil fuels provide a security guarantee, which we cannot do without, but we also have a production capacity above 50% from renewables, specifically hydro, solar and wind," he said.

The president said the region could also move forward with a pilot project to produce renewable gas from waste processing, but added that no study existed on the matter.

DC/LYT // ADB.

Lusa