Electric companies stopped burning gas after a year of skyrocketing consumption. this Gas demand from the electricity system for power generation in combined cycle power plants fell strongly by 25%. It hit 9,522 gigawatt hours (GWh) in November after a full year of record activity, according to records from Enagás, the manager of the Spanish gas system.
Between January and November, the gas flares up to produce electric increased more than 61%Approaching 129,900 GWh, traditional gas demand from homes and industry is accumulating a decline of about 19% amid the energy crisis and the spiral of gas prices in international markets.
After recording a few months when demand doubled or even tripled compared to the same periods last year, the cumulative increase in gas consumption for electricity generation so far this year was close to 78%, until last month’s cut. just eBetween January and August, the Spanish electricity system burned as much gas in its combined cycles as all of 2021..
The slowdown in the use of gas power plants is due to the recovery of wind generation.. Thanks to the strong winds recorded last month, the wind turbine plants were able to increase their operations, and in November, the technology with the highest electricity production since last May was positioned as the technology to replace gas plants.
toElectricity concentrated almost a third of all electricity production in the country last month, It accounts for 31% of the total energy produced, with more than 6,700 gigawatt hours (GWh), according to the records of the national electricity system manager, Red Eléctrica de España. Electricity companies produced around 4,800 GWh with gas power plants, 22% of the total supply in November. Nuclear power plants, a traditional source of stable generation, have a 19.5% share and a generation of just over 4,200 GWh.
The larger contribution of renewables, with lower gas production in recent weeks and the decline in international gas markets, was the month with the lowest price in the Spanish electricity market in the entire energy crisis since November 2021. 124 Euros per megawatt hour (MWh).
One year dependent on gas
What we experience during the summer and in the autumn, vSeveral factors combined to push the electrical system to enter combined cycles. (gas-fired power plants) to meet all required consumption. The drought has halved hydroelectric power plant production from last year, the contribution of wind power has been much less than had been expected for months, and electricity exports to France and Portugal skyrocketed to historic highs due to the problems experienced. neighboring countries (half the French nuclear park halted and the ravages of drought in a hydropower-dependent market like Portugal).
power stations Gas will predictably end up as the main electricity generation technology in the country, concentrating a quarter of all energy produced and surpassing nuclear and wind power, which will each contribute about 20% to electricity production in all of 2022.
The greater contribution of gas (as well as coal) means that the electricity system has already far exceeded the accumulated CO2 emissions for the whole of 2021. Spain thus breaks the emissions reduction trend of the last four years and that caused him to score historical minimum levels in the last three yearse, thanks to the cascading decline in coal, the expansion of renewable resources, and the electricity demand implied by low economic activity during the pandemic.