Spain increased its electricity exports this year to neighboring countries and smashed all records in the middle of a crisis. While the Spanish electricity system awaits the release of data for this December, it has already far exceeded records for overseas electricity shipments in the entire historical series of Red Eléctrica de España (REE) in more than three decades since the early 1990s. .
Between January and November, Spain exported a total of 25,427 gigawatts (GWh) of electricity to other linked countries (France, Portugal, Morocco and Andorra). new The historical maximum, even without counting the December data, would inflate these records even further and smash 2012’s previous record.With 18,985 GWh of exports reached, it was exported for the whole year.
The new record is the result of problems in fully guaranteeing electricity supply in the French and Portuguese markets, one due to the shutdown of most of the nuclear power plants, and the other, respectively, due to drought and the difficulty of generating with hydroelectric power plants. . a situation that causes Spain forced to increase electricity production amid energy crisis and meets the needs of the countries to which it is connected in the full price spiral.
in this content imports Spain’s electricity has been reduced and by December, They could break their lowest record in over a decade. Energy purchases from abroad between January and November of this year were 6,742 GWh, the lowest since 2010, according to statistics from REE, the national electricity system operator and director of high voltage transmission networks.
With exports increasing and imports falling, Spain’s net foreign trade balance is moving towards its first negative data (export balance) and the highest data in the statistical series since 2015. Exchanges reflect an export balance of 18,684 GWh so far this year, currently replacing the previous record of around 11,200 GWh reached in 2012.
throughout this yearSpain also reached record levels for exports for several months in a row.. The record of external electricity sales of 3,056 GWh to other connected countries was reached in September, exceeding the previous maximum level recorded in August. In that month, the Spanish electricity system imported only 179 GWh from its neighbors, a very low level compared to previous months. Thus, the Spanish export balance also broke a historical record of 2,877 GWh, exceeding the previous maximum level reached a month ago.
Connection with France up to the border
Traditionally, Spain was a net importer of electricity from France each year. In the midst of the energy crisis, the direction of commercial energy flows changed. France has had to buy electricity from all its interconnected countries this year, as more than half of its nuclear power plants have stopped due to maintenance, corrosion problems and the danger of overheating.
Spain will sell more electricity this year than it would buy from France for the first time since 2010 (actually, these are the only two years in the entire historical series with an export balance for the Spanish system) and it will do so at hitherto unknown levels. Between January and November, exports to France are close to 11,600 GWh, and Spain’s balance reaches 7,368 GWh, reaching record light years in 2010 with 3,500 GWh exports and 1,530 GWh balance.
According to REE data, in a few months this year the operation of connections between the two countries via the Pyrenees has been squeezed to the limit. In July, connections to send electricity to the French market operated at maximum capacity for 100% of the hours throughout the month; 99.3% of hours in August; and in September, 98.9% of the hours of the whole month.