Spain nears 50% renewables for first half 2018, led by wind power

A bumper half-year for wind power has helped to deliver nearly 50 per cent renewables for Spain in the first six months of 2018, joining forces with hydro and solar to cover 45.8 per cent of the European nation’s electricity demand.

Spanish grid operator Red Electrica de Espana (REE) said the nation’s wind farms generated a 22.6 per cent share of total power in Spain to July, beating out nuclear (20.6 per cent) to be Spain’s leading energy source.

“Compared with the first six months of 2017, wind production has increased by 10.4%,” said the REE.

Hydropower – which grew by a huge 74 per cent in the first half of 2018 compared to the same time last year, after a relatively dry 2017 – was third biggest contributor to the grid, at 16.9 per cent.

Solar energy contributed an additional 4.6 per cent in the same period – a combination of 3 per cent from solar PV generation, and 1.6 per cent from solar thermal systems.

REE said that total grid-connected renewables in Spain had grown by 53 per cent between 2007 and 2017, with another 30,500MW of additional renewables in the pipeline, and set to be connected.

In terms of solar, a separate REE report noted that a total 4,687MW of solar PV capacity, and 2,304MW of solar thermal systems had been installed throughout Spain by the end of 2017.