Spain produced 43.6% of its electricity with renewable energy technologies in the year to December 11, Spanish grid operator Red Electrica de Espana (REE) said in the summary of its 2020 forecast report.
The figure represents the highest proportion of renewables in Spain’s power mix since the records began in 2007, REE noted. On the opposite end were coal-fired plants, which cut down production by 60% compared to 2019 and reached an all-time low share of 2% in the total generation.
By the December cut-off date, Spanish plants generated 109,269 GWh of renewable power, up by 11.6% year-on-year, owing mostly to favourable weather conditions and an increase in the total installed renewable energy capacity.
This year, the country added 2,706 MW of new wind and solar capacity and disconnected 3,486 MW of polluting power plants, mainly coal-burning units. Today, Spain’s total installed generation capacity stands at 109,674 MW, with renewables accounting for 53% of the total.
The overall electricity production levels decreased by 4% to 250,387 GWh, while emissions stemming from power generation fell by 27.3% compared to 2019. With a 21.7% share in the total generation, wind farms were the country’s biggest producers of renewable power this year and the second biggest after nuclear energy. Solar photovoltaic (PV) plants managed to raise their output by 65.9% on the year and reach a share of 6.1%.
In the year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation’s demand for electricity dropped 5.6% to an estimated 249,716 GWh.
REE said it expects some changes in the figures to pop up before the year ends, mainly due to the addition of more renewable energy capacity and a shutdown of more coal-based units.
