The Spanish government has revised its energy and climate plan (PNIEC) to increase its installed renewable capacity target to 160 GW by 2030, 23% more than the 123 GW previously forecast, while also contemplating tripling the hydrogen target .
This figure would represent 75% of the country’s total capacity of 214 GW expected by the end of the decade, according to the Spanish ministry Transición Ecológica.
The new plan contemplates increasing the installed wind capacity to 62 GW, of which 3 GW would be offshore wind, compared to the 50.3 GW of the previous plan and the current 30.3 GW.
Meanwhile, photovoltaic solar would reach 76 GW, including 19 GW of self-consumption, compared to the 39.2 GW of solar and 14 GW of self-consumption that were previously expected to be reached in 2030.
The country currently has 21.2 GW of photovoltaic solar installed and more than 5 GW of self-consumption, according to data from the TSO Red Eléctrica.
In addition, the new plan advances the release of coal to 2025 given the current closure of the country’s power plants, and maintains the current nuclear scenario, which contemplates the closure of the fleet between 2027-2035.
In line with the increase in the renewable goal, the government expects the country’s emissions in 2030 to be 32% lower than in 1990, compared to the previous target of 23%.
Renewables would cover 48% of the country’s final energy consumption – six points more than the previous target – and 81% of electricity generation, compared to the 74% forecast in the old plan.
Likewise, the electrolyser capacity target is raised to 11 GW, compared to the previous 4 GW, which also reflects the ambition of new projects such as the H2Med link with France for the export of green hydrogen.
Regarding renewable gases, Spain now expects to have 440 MW of biogas production in 2030, compared to the previous 241 MW.
The increase in renewable capacity this decade has to be accompanied by technologies that provide flexibility and to deal with the intermittency of renewables, ministry sources said.
Thus, the storage target will increase from the previous 20 GW to 22 GW, including 4.8 GW of solar thermal capacity, which is down 34% from the previously forecast 7.3 GW.
The rise in new renewable capacity will be accompanied by greater demand due to the electrification of the economy, the ministry sources said, referring to increased consumption of heat pumps in the residential, service and industrial sectors.
Increased use of electric vehicles is also expected, from the previously forecast 5m of vehicles to 5.5m, they added.
The national plan expects the country’s power demand to increase to 316 TWh by 2030, compared to 235.5 TWh last year.
The draft of the new PNIEC, which will be sent to Brussels in the coming days, will be in public consultation until September 4, so it could undergo changes, especially if there is a change of government after the general elections on July 23 .
