In recent years, Spain has initiated a massive distribution. new renewable facilities and the green revolution is causing a shock to the country’s electricity production. The green avalanche will enable the Spanish electricity system to reach a historic milestone this year and first time It will produce more than half of its energy with renewable technology facilitiesIt surpassed nuclear, gas and coal power plants combined.
Spain’s electricity sector has generated a record production of almost 125,300 gigawatt hours (GWh) so far this year; This is more than in all previous years. Up to 50.2% of the weight of renewable energies in all electricity production According to Red Eléctrica de España (REE) records, the country. The data corresponds to the production of the entire national electricity system, which includes not only the peninsula (where renewable energy has a larger presence at 52% of production) but also the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla.
Never before has the 50% renewable energy threshold been exceeded in a single year. The previous record was reached in 2021 with 46.7% of the total. The target of the Pedro Sánchez Government, envisaged in the draft update of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) sent to the European Commission, is to produce 80% of electricity from renewable sources in 2030. So far, by 2023, electricity is also breaking records without CO2 emissions (the sum of renewable energy and nuclear energy), reaching 72% of the total.
just a few months
So far, there have been months where renewable energy production outpaced all other production, mostly due to seasonal conditions (months when wind, solar or hydro generation increased rapidly due to favorable meteorological scenarios), but this could not be accomplished in one year.
Just over a decade ago was the first recorded month in which production from renewable energy plants exceeded nuclear, gas and coal production. It was April 2013. And all these years total Only 22 of the monthly payments (out of 127 total payments) where renewable energy is above all others It consists of technologies.
After registration, Spain will manage to pass the threshold of half of its electricity produced by renewable power plants in the whole of 2023 It reached a new historical maximum last November, when 60.2% of energy was of green origin According to the latest statistical data updated by REE, it reached levels of over 56% in the first week of December.
Beatriz Corredor, president of Redeia (REE’s parent group), predicted at the beginning of the year that the target of exceeding 50% of green energy was achievable for the whole year. It seemed difficult then, and now the electricity system is about to make history, thanks to the boom in wind and solar power and the relative recovery of hydro after last year’s drought-induced setback.
So far this year, wind energy is the main source of electricity generation at 23.3%; above nuclear (20.2%) and gas power plants (17.4%). Photovoltaic solar power plants concentrated 12.4% of production (this figure does not include self-consumption generation, which could add about 2% more) and hydroelectric power plants accounted for 9%.
More renewable energy, cheaper light
The expansion of renewable energy sources in the Spanish market and their increasing weight in the national electricity generation mix not only represents environmental progress towards decarbonising the economy, but is also an important development for it. The effect that will reduce energy prices. Electricity markets reached exorbitant prices during the worst of the energy crisis, reaching historic highs of over 500 euros per megawatt hour (MWh). Thanks to cheaper gas and a greater focus on renewable energy production, electricity prices have finally managed to soften in recent months, giving families and businesses a sigh of relief.
The wholesale electricity market, also known as the ‘pool’, sets prices through a marginal system that ensures that the latest and most expensive technology needed to meet demand sets the price for others at all hours of the day. Some so-called non-marginal production technologies (renewable energy, nuclear and hydropower) enter the market at zero prices.
The more renewable energy production, the easier it is to control energy prices. That’s what’s happening now, with the drop in gas prices and CO2 emissions rights. In November, the average price of the electricity market was 62 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), the lowest since March 2021, before the energy crisis, given that renewable energy sources account for more than 60% of all national electricity production.
However, the electricity sector is warning about distortions caused by the sudden collapse of prices. And when the production of these non-marginal energies is sufficient to cover the entire planned consumption, the price remains at zero euros. That’s what’s happening more and more over the past year: this year around 85 hours for nothing.
Renewable energy industry warns of business impact of this cannibalization of electricity prices. Cannibalization, because, the companies warn, it is precisely the expansion of renewable energy sources that endangers the profitability of existing and future green installations due to the decline in electricity prices and may result in a halt to investments in new developments.