Renewable energy in Spain

Renewable Energy in Spain
Renewable Energy (RE)
RE as % of Gross Final Energy Consumption. 16.2% (2014)
Target for above. 20.0% (2020)
Renewable Electricity
Percentage electricity generated by RE. 42.8% (2014)
RE generated / Total electricity generation. 111,459/266,867 GWh Net(2014)[1]
Record % RE covered electricity consumption

64.2% (24/9/12

wind only)[2]
Installed capacity (2015)[3]
Wind Power. 23 GW
Bio Energy. 0.75 GW
Solar Power. 7 GW
Hydro Power. 20.3 GW
Geothermal 0 GW
Total 51.1 GW
Country Notes
  • One of the worldleaders in windpower generation and turbine manufacturing.
  • Europes second largest total windpower capacity after Germany.

Electricity from Renewable Sources in Spain represented 42.8% of electricity demand coverage during 2014. The country has a very large wind power capability built up over many years and is one of the world leaders in wind power generation.

Initially Spain also positioned itself as a European leader in Solar power, by 2007-2010 the country was second only to Germany in installed capacity, however other countries (Italy in particular) have since leapfrogged Spanish development. By 2015 solar power in Spain though significant produced less than a third of that of wind power in 2015.

Spain has set the target of generating 20% of all its energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2020.[4]By the end of 2014 Spain had reached a level of 16.2% of all its energy needs from renewable energy sources.[5]

The story of renewable energy development in Spain is both a mixed and unfinished one. Under previous subsidies the country expanded its renewable base rapidly and helped established a domestic industry in both wind turbine and solar energy. However support was drastically cut back following the global financial crisis and new installations stagnated between 2012 and 2015. The debts incurred during the boom period have led to tougher and retrospective revisions of contracts to providers of renewable energy reducing returns considerably. In being one of the first-to-market countries, Spain faces the challenge of powerful competitors from countries such as Denmark, Germany and China and ironically a cheaper and more mature renewable energy sector which Spain itself helped to pioneer.

In 2015 solar power suddenly demonstrated a possible way through the impasse. The continued fall in prices for solar systems and Spain's abundant sunshine led to prices for solar power reaching grid price parity. Suddenly there was the potential for sustained and spontaneous growth in solar installations in Spain as households and producers could produce power more economically. However the Spanish government introduced what has been dubbed the worlds first "sun tax" on solar installations making them economically less viable as well as draconian fines (up to 60 million Euros) for anyone not complying with the tax.

The tax has proved highly controversial. On the one hand the government has argued that those generating their own power still rely on the national grid for power backup and so should be liable for contributing to the cost. On the other hand, the solar industry has argued that the government is simply trying to protect the centralised established power producers who's revenues would be threatened by this competiitve solar threat. Environmentalists have criticised the tax for artificially blocking Spain from continuing its long standing movement to renewable energy production.

Whatever the merits of both arguments, the controversy can only become more heightened as the price of solar energy continues to fall and if PV solar power installed capacity in Spain were to continue sliding down the EU league

from 12th position in 2014 (102.9 kW per 1000 inhabitants). In the same year in terms of wind energy production Spain was much stronger in 3rd position (495 kW per1000 inhabitants).

Electricity Coverage

Unión Fenosa´s aerogenerator

Percentage of total national electricity demand coverage by component renewable sources, Spain 2015[6]

Wind power 19.1%
Hydroelectric 11.1%
Solar PV 3.1%
Solar Thermal 2.1%
Renewable Thermal 2.0%
TOTAL RENEWABLE 37.4%

Wind power provided the largest share at 19.1% followed by hydroelectric power at 11.1%. Solar power provided 5.2% and renewable thermal a further 2%. The total electicity supplied (demand coverage) from renewables was 37.4% of Spain's requirements in 2015. The current generational mix of electricity production can be viewed live on the Red Electrica de Espana website.

Contribution of renewables to total electricity coverage in Spain[6][7][8][9]

Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
% tot 18.4% 20.2% 20.4% 26.4% 35.3% 32.5% 31.9% 42.4% 42.8% 37.4%

Percentage of electricity coverage by renewables 2006-2015:

'Components of renewable electricity coverage in Spain 2015.'[6]

Sharp variation from one year to the next is largely due to the substantial differences in hydroelectric production from one year to the next. Excluding hydroelectric production electricity generation from renewable energy sources grew from around 10 percent[10] in 2006 to 26.3 percent of demand coverage in 2015. Most of the growth occurred in the years leading up to 2012 with little change in baseline capacity between 2012 and 2015. Renewable energy generated electricity had a record year in 2014 when it supplied 42.8% of Spain's national demand.

Wind power

Main article: Wind power in Spain

Installed windpower capacity MW[6][11]

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
834 1,812 2,235 3,337 4,825 6,203 8,264 10,028 11,623 15,131 16,689 19,149 20,676 21,674 22,796 22,959 22,986 23,003

Installed capacity MW:

In 2014 Spain was the world's fourth biggest producer of wind power. In that year, the year-end installed capacity was 23 GW and the annual production was 51,439 GWh, a share of total electricity consumption of 21.1%.[12] Installed capacity grew from around 0.8GW in 1998 to approximately 23 GW by 2012. As can be seen from the graph, virtually no new wind power has been installed from 2012 to 2015.

Hydroelectric Power

Installed Capacity 2006-2015 (MW).[3]

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Conventional and mixed Hydro 14,567 14,580 14,636 14,636 14,656 14,668 14,887 14,890 14,897 17,024
Pumped Storage 2,451 2,451 2,451 2,451 2,451 2,451 2,451 2,451 2,451 3,301
Hydro tot. 17,018 17,031 17,087 17,087 17,107 17,119 17,338 17,341 17,348 20,325
Wind Hydro - - - - - - - - 11 11
Other Hydro <50MW 1,797 1,871 1,981 2,023 2,037 2,042 2,043 2,109 2,109 -
Total 18,815 18,902 19,068 19,110 19,144 19,161 19,381 19,450 19,468 20,336

Annual generation in GW/h[6][13]

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Hydro 38,653 27,571 19,455 33,970 35,860 25,733
Other Hydro<5MW 6,824 5,294 4,645 7,099 7,067 5,663
Wind Hydro 9
Total 45,477 32,865 24,100 41,069 42,927 31,405

GW/h annual production:

Annual electricity generation from hydroelectric sources varies considerably from year to year. A rough calculation shows that the contribution to total net generation varied approximately between 9-17 percent annually. This variation helps explain the fluctuating annual figures for total renewable energy in Spain. Production in 2012 was a little over half that of 2010 at just 24,100 gW/h.

Solar power

Main article: Solar power in Spain

Installed capacity:[3]

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Solar PV MW 125 637 3,353 3,398 3,838 4,259 4,560 4,649 4,646 4,667
Solar Thermal MW 11 11 61 232 532 999 1,950 2,300 2,300 2,300
Total MW 136 648 3,414 3,630 4,370 5,258 6,510 6,949 6,946 6,967

Growth in installed capacity:

In 2005 Spain became the first country in Europe to require the installation of photovoltaic electricity generation in new buildings, and the second in the world (after Israel) to require the installation of solar hot water systems.[14] With the construction of the PS10, located near Seville, Spain became the first country to ever have a commercial solar energy power tower.[15] In recent years there has been much controversy over a tax on PV power generation as the cost of PV solar installations has reached grid parity in Spain according to several sources. Solar power first began to be installed significantly in 2006 with 136 MW installed capacity before rising rapidly to 6,949 MW by 2013. Little change has occurred in installed capacity between 2013 and 2015.

Panoramic view of the photovoltaic power station of Cariñena, Zaragoza. The panels are mounted on dual axis trackers in order to maximise the intensity of incoming direct radiation. This solution enables the arrays to track the sun as the earth turns.

Renewable Thermal

Growth in installed capacity:[3]

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
MW 574 588 635 782 821 887 975 952 989 747

Renewable thermal installed capacity grew from 574 MW in 2006 to 989 MW by 2014.

Production

Production by source and Autonomous Community:

The following two tables show a snapshot of the generation of electricity from renewable sources in Spain at the end of 2006 and the end of 2013. In 2006 two regions were generating around 70 percent of electricity demand from renewables. By 2013 four regions were generating more electricity from renewables than the total demand within each region. The leading region was Castile and León which generated 164 percent of its total electricity demand.

Renewable Electricity in Spain (GWh, 2006 data)[16]
Autonomous Community Hydroelectric power (Nationwide) Wind power Solar power - all Biomass

power

 Solid waste

power

 Total Renewable Generation Total Electricity Demand % Renewable of Total

Electricity Demand

Castile and León 6960 3840 14 274 87 11175 15793 70.8%
Galicia 7561 5970 1 242 317 14091 20279 69.5%
La Rioja 124 897 1 3 2 1027 1860 55.2%
Aragón 3073 3342 1 63 8 6487 11885 54.6%
Navarre 379 2248 28 269 0 2924 5401 54.1%
Extremadura 2244 0 1 0 0 2245 5076 44.2%
Castile-La Mancha 710 3935 8 99 34 4786 12686 37.7%
Asturias 1680 357 0 221 400 2658 12391 21.5%
Cantabria 875 0 0 11 41 927 5693 16.3%
Catalonia 3223 301 7 77 241 3849 48498 7.9%
Andalusia 946 1042 5 728 0 2721 40737 6.7%
Basque Country 336 339 3 55 326 1059 20934 5.1%
Valencia 1041 266 13 55 0 1375 27668 5.0%
Canary Islands 0 288 0 0 0 288 9372 3.1%
Balearic Islands 0 5 0 0 133 138 6235 2.2%
Murcia 65 93 6 12 0 176 8334 2.1%
Madrid 83 0 8 58 330 479 30598 1.6%
Ceuta & Melilla 0 0 0 0 2 2 391 0.5%
SPAIN 29301 22924 97 2167 1921 56410 283829 19.9%
Renewable Electricity in Spain (GWh, 20013 data)[17]
Autonomous Community Hydroelectric

power

 Hydroelectric

power

(special regime)

 Wind power Solar

thermal

 Solar

PV

 All - Renewable Thermal Total Renewable Generation Total Electricity Demand % Renewable of Total

Electricity Demand

Castilla y León 7955 628 12681 0 848 181 22293 13586 164.09%
Extremadura 2855 38 0 1649 1110 150 5802 4586 126.52%
Castilla-La Mancha 551 491 8657 678 1697 238 12312 11745 104.83%
Galicia 8226 1844 9496 0 20 597 20183 19538 103.30%
Aragón 3594 1013 4869 0 309 228 10013 10190 98.26%
Navarra 146 627 2665 0 295 304 4037 4720 85.53%
La Rioja 106 68 1078 0 130 12 1394 1655 84.23%
Asturias 1911 331 1142 0 1 666 4051 10527 38.48%
Andalucía 1303 331 6987 1988 1586 1764 13959 37280 37.44%
Cantabria 611 279 75 0 2 82 1049 4462 23.51%
Cataluña 4607 1099 3195 74 431 259 9665 47122 20.51%
Región de Murcia 76 56 544 43 802 58 1579 7801 20.24%
Comunidad Valenciana 1584 25 2595 10 564 53 4831 25615 18.86%
Canarias 0 3 364 0 287 8 662 8625 7.68%
País Vasco 375 168 356 0 28 187 1114 17316 6.43%
Baleares 0 0 6 0 122 1 129 5674 2.27%
Comunidad de Madrid 69 100 0 0 92 286 547 30169 1.81%
Ceuta y Melilla 0 0 0 0 0.1 0 0.1 412 0.02%
SPAIN 33970 7102 54708 4442 8324 5073 113619 261023 43.53%

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Elaborated data: Red Electrica De Espana, Publicaciones, Indicadores nacionales Data sheet for “Balances de energía eléctrica” March 2016 Accessed 5/5/16".
  2. ↑ "Greenpeace.org / Energydesk".
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Red Electrica De Espana, Publicaciones, Indicadores nacionales Data sheet for March 2016 accessed 4/5/16".
  4. ↑ DIRECTIVE 2009/28/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL, 23 April 2009 ,p31
  5. ↑ "Share of renewables in energy consumption in the EU rose further to 16% in 2014. Eurostat News Release, 10 February 2016." (PDF).
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Preliminary Report 2015, Red Electrica Espana
  7. ↑ Corporate Responsibility Report 2009, p91, Red Eléctrica Corporación
  8. ↑ Preliminary Report 2013, p12, Red Eléctrica de España
  9. ↑ Corporate Responsibility Report 2014, p61, Red Eléctrica de España
  10. ↑ Annual Report 2007, Red Electrica de Espana, figure for wind power only, excudes very small contribution from other sources.
  11. ↑ Based on sources listed in the page: Wind power in the European Union
  12. ↑ The Spanish Electricity System Preliminary Report 2014 (PDF), Red Eléctrica de España (REE), 2014
  13. ↑ The Spanish electricity system 2014,p33, Red Electric de Espana
  14. ↑ REN21: Renewables Global Status Report - Update 2006
  15. ↑ "beyondfossilfuel.com". beyondfossilfuel.com.
  16. ↑ Red Eléctrica de España Annual Report 2006
  17. ↑ Red Electrica de Espana, Annual Report 2013

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