Renewable energy in Spain
Encyclopedia
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
has set the target of generating 20% of its energy needs from renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
sources by 2020.
Some autonomous regions in Spain lead Europe in the use of renewable energy technology
Renewable energy commercialization
Renewable energy commercialization involves the deployment of three generations of renewable energy technologies dating back more than 100 years. First-generation technologies, which are already mature and economically competitive, include biomass, hydroelectricity, geothermal power and heat...
, and plan to reach 100% renewable energy generation in a few years (objective "all electricity from renewable sources, AERS). Castilla y León and Galicia are especially near this goal, producing in 2006 70% of their total electricity demand from renewable energy sources, and 5 communities produce more than 50% from renewables.
Wind power
Spain is the world's third biggest producer of wind power, after the United States and GermanyWind power in Germany
In 2010, the installed capacity of wind power in Germany was 27.2 GW. Wind power currently produces about seven percent of Germany’s total electrical power. More than 21,607 wind turbines are located in the German federal area and the country has plans to build more wind turbines...
, with an installed capacity of 20,661 megawatts (MW) april 2011https://demanda.ree.es/eolicaEng.html, a rise of 1,609 MW for the year. More than 11% of Spain's electricity came from wind power in 2008. The largest producer of wind power in Spain is Iberdrola
Iberdrola
Iberdrola , headquartered in Bilbao, is a private utility with a global footprint and over 150 years of experience...
, with 27 percent of capacity, followed by Acciona
Acciona
Acciona, S.A., is a Spanish conglomerate group dedicated to civil engineering, construction and infrastructure.The company was founded in 1997 through the merger of Entrecanales y Tavora and Cubiertas y MZOV. The company's headquarters is in Alcobendas, Community of Madrid, Spain. The company's U.S...
on 16 percent and Endesa
Endesa (Spain)
Endesa, S.A. is the largest electric utility company in Spain. The firm, a majority-owned subsidiary of the Italian utility company Enel, has 10 million customers in Spain, with domestic annual generation of over 97,600 GWh from nuclear, fossil-fueled, hydroelectric, and renewable resource power...
with 10 percent.
Solar power
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 IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
) to require the installation of solar hot water
Solar hot water
Solar water heating or solar hot water systems comprise several innovations and many mature renewable energy technologies that have been well established for many years...
systems.
With the construction of the PS10, located near Seville, Spain became the first country to ever have a commercial solar energy power tower.
Production
Production by source and Autonomous Community:| Autonomous Community | Hydroelectric power | Wind power | Solar power | Biomass power | Solid waste power | Total Renewable Generation | Total Electricity Demand | % Renewable of Total Electricity Demand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castile and León Castile and León Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile... |
6960 | 3840 | 14 | 274 | 87 | 11175 | 15793 | 70.8% |
| Galicia | 7561 | 5970 | 1 | 242 | 317 | 14091 | 20279 | 69.5% |
| La Rioja La Rioja (Spain) La Rioja is an autonomous community and a province of northern Spain. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Nájera.-History:... |
124 | 897 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1027 | 1860 | 55.2% |
| Aragón Aragon Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza... |
3073 | 3342 | 1 | 63 | 8 | 6487 | 11885 | 54.6% |
| Navarre Navarre Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France... |
379 | 2248 | 28 | 269 | 0 | 2924 | 5401 | 54.1% |
| Extremadura Extremadura Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west... |
2244 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2245 | 5076 | 44.2% |
| Castile-La Mancha Castile-La Mancha Castile-La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain. Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura. It is one of the most sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous communities... |
710 | 3935 | 8 | 99 | 34 | 4786 | 12686 | 37.7% |
| Asturias Asturias The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages... |
1680 | 357 | 0 | 221 | 400 | 2658 | 12391 | 21.5% |
| Cantabria Cantabria Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria... |
875 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 41 | 927 | 5693 | 16.3% |
| Catalonia Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an... |
3223 | 301 | 7 | 77 | 241 | 3849 | 48498 | 7.9% |
| Andalusia Andalusia Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and... |
946 | 1042 | 5 | 728 | 0 | 2721 | 40737 | 6.7% |
| Basque Country Basque Country (autonomous community) The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories.... |
336 | 339 | 3 | 55 | 326 | 1059 | 20934 | 5.1% |
| Valencia Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia... |
1041 | 266 | 13 | 55 | 0 | 1375 | 27668 | 5.0% |
| Canary Islands Canary Islands The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union... |
0 | 288 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 288 | 9372 | 3.1% |
| Balearic Islands Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital... |
0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 133 | 138 | 6235 | 2.2% |
| Murcia Region of Murcia The Region of Murcia is an autonomous community of Spain located in the southeast of the country, between Andalusia and Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast.... |
65 | 93 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 176 | 8334 | 2.1% |
| Madrid | 83 | 0 | 8 | 58 | 330 | 479 | 30598 | 1.6% |
| Ceuta Ceuta Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish... & Melilla Melilla Melilla is a autonomous city of Spain and an exclave on the north coast of Morocco. Melilla, along with the Spanish exclave Ceuta, is one of the two Spanish territories located in mainland Africa... |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 391 | 0.5% |
| SPAIN | 29301 | 22924 | 97 | 2167 | 1921 | 56410 | 283829 | 19.9% |
See also
- Instituto para la Diversificación y Ahorro de la EnergíaInstituto para la Diversificación y Ahorro de la EnergíaThe Instituto para la Diversificación y Ahorro de la Energía is a public company attached to the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce through the General Secretariat of Energy.IDEA's mission is to promote energy efficiency and the rational use of energy in Spain, as well as...
(IDAE) - Iberdrola RenovablesIberdrola Renovables- Iberdrola Renovables was a subsidiary of Iberdrola, headquartered in Valencia, Spain, which included companies in the domains of renewable energy, particularly wind power...
- Renewable energy in the European UnionRenewable energy in the European UnionThe countries of the European Union are currently the number two global leaders in the development and application of renewable energy. Promoting the use of renewable energy sources is important both to the reduction of the EU's dependence on foreign energy imports, and in meeting targets to combat...
External links
- Renewables 2050. A report on the potential for renewable energies in peninsular Spain (Green Peace).
- ASIF.
- Protermosolar.
- Renewable Energy Spain.
- Renewable Energy in Spain: Details on the Government's New feed-in tariff (FIT) Regulation
- ISTAS analysis of the flawed Calzada report. In Spanish.
- Spain Rejects Calzada "Spanish Jobs" Study. - NRDC summary of the response of the Spanish government and ISTAS to the Calzada report.
- - US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Response to the Report Study of the Effects on Employment of Public Aid to Renewable Energy Sources from King Juan Carlos University (Spain), authors Eric Lantz and Suzanne Tegen, White Paper NREL/TP-6A2-46261, August 2009