EDP H1 Iberian power distribution falls 3 pct

LISBON, July 17 (Reuters) - Portuguese power company EDP (EDP.LS) said on Friday its first-half energy distribution fell 3.1 percent in Portugal and Spain.

Energy distribution has been hit particularly hard by the economic downturn in Spain but showed signs of stabilizing in June, EDP said.

The volume of electric energy distributed in Portugal decreased 2.3 percent to 24,425 gigawatt hours (GWh), while EDP's natural gas distribution slipped 0.2 percent.

In Spain, where the crisis hit much harder after years of economic and construction sector boom, EDP's electricity sales slumped 7.5 percent to 4,543 GWh and gas distribution fell 5.7 percent. The number of clients in both countries rose less than 1 percent in the period.

EDP said that in June "both markets showed some signs of stabilisation with demand falling by 2 percent in Portugal and 2.6 percent in Spain".

In Brazil, EDP's power distribution fell by 20.9 percent to 10,072 GWh as a result of an asset swap and a drop in mining activity in Latin America's largest country, which caused a steep decline in power supplies to large industrial consumers.

Wind power output continued to increase at a fast pace, rising 25 percent in the second quarter and 33 percent in the first six months of the year from a year eralier. Wind power output totalled 5,251 GWh in the January-June period.

EDP's subsidiary EDP Renewables (EDPR.LS) is the world's fourth-largest wind power operator in terms of installed capacity. About half of its capacity is in the United Sstates.

EDP shares were up 1.15 percent at 2.817 euros in early trading, outperforming the broader market, which was up 0.2 percent. EDP will release its quarterly earnings on July 30. (Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by David Cowell)