Spanish Wind Energy

In 2013 Spain became the only country in the world where wind energy is the leading electricity supplier over a whole year ...

The Spanish electricity system operator, Red Eléctrica de España (REE), reported that wind powered electricity met 20.9% of the country’s power demand, followed by nuclear at 20.8%.

Wind produced 54,478 Gigawatt hours of electricity in 2013 in Spain, a 13.2% increase compared to 2012. Nuclear meanwhile produced 2,377 Gigawatt hours more than wind last year, but its contribution to the power demand was lower because it consumes more electricity than wind farms to run its facilities, the Spanish Wind Energy Association (AEE) explained.

... but wind energy is facing huge regulatory hurdles ...

In January 2012 the newly-elected government introduced a moratorium on all new wind power installations in Spain and since then only the projects that were already underway have been completed.

Then a new regulation came into force which implies that all wind farms in Spain built before 2005 will not receive tariffs. This makes it very difficult for financing – your income estimates will change because of this. Some companies could fail.

The regulation works against investor confidence. When there is a framework that ensures good conditions, investments happen. When this is changed by the government, investors don’t know what is happening. The government has demonstrated that it doesn’t trust wind; that it is working in another direction. It plans to promote fossil fuels.

... and the reason is the Government thinks renewables created the electricity system deficit problem which the EU has told it to solve

In Spain the electricity system has a deficit of €30 billion – this is a big problem for the government and the EU has told the government to solve it. The government thinks this deficit is because renewables are receiving tariffs.

But the electricity market in Spain is not efficient. For example, nuclear power costs €17 per Megawatt hour but it receives €50/MWh from the government. At a time when we need to reduce the deficit we could modify this, but the government is only interested in targeting renewables.

Based on interview with Jaume Margarit Roset, Director General of the association of renewable energies in Spain, APPA