Spain Closes 2019 With Nearly Half Renewable Energy Mix

According to data furnished by the REE, at the end of 2019, renewable energy represents nearly half of the total installed generation capacity in Spain

According to data furnished by the Red Eléctrica de España (REE), a partly state-owned and public limited Spanish corporation which operates the national electricity grid in Spain, During 2019, the non-polluting installed power capacity in Spain experienced a growth of 10 percent with the commissioning of almost 5,000 new ‘green’ MW. In this way, renewable energy now represents nearly half (or 49.3 percent) of the total installed generation capacity in the country, with more than 108,000 MW.

According to REE’s forecast for the end of 2019, the complete set of electricity generation facilities in Spain is increasingly more and more renewable. Solar PV, which closed 2019 with more than 7,800 MW of installed power capacity, had been the technology that has increased its presence in the complete set of electricity generation facilities the most, with an increase of 66 percent compared to 2018.

For its part, wind power, which added more than 1,600 MW of new capacity to its total generation capacity, will end the year with more than 25,200 MW installed in Spain. The year also saw the first use of offshore wind power in the country, with the commissioning of the first offshore wind turbine in Spain off the coast of the island of Gran Canaria, with a generation capacity of 5 MW.

The decarbonisation of Spain has also made progress not only because of the installation of new renewable generation capacity but also as a result of the closure of the Anllares coal-fired power station in León, which reduces 347 MW of polluting installed power generation.

On the other hand, the demand for electricity in Spain during this year was 264,843 GWh, a value that is 1.5 percent lower than in 2018. After having factored in the influence of seasonal and working patterns, the decrease stands at 2.5 percent with respect to last year.

The forecast also revealed that in 2019, 261,020 GWh of electricity was produced in Spain, of which 36.8 percent came from renewable technologies. Furthermore, 58.6 percent of the electricity produced in Spain during 2019 was obtained using technologies that produce zero CO2 emissions.