Renewable energy is gaining significant momentum in Spain. In April of this year the country set a new record when over half of its energy, 54%, was genereated from its own renewable energy sources. And that figure will continue to increase as the county is blessed with lots of sun, water and wind, enlightened politicians and an understanding population.
(RED) is Spain’s grid operator. They have reported that a quarter of Spain’s electricity is generated from hydropower, while 22% came from wind farms. Solar photovoltaic and solar thermal made nearly 5%. The advances are quite staggering. Only 5 years ago, renewable energy represented less than a fifth of the country’s electricity. This now makes Spain the world’s fourth largest producer of renewable energy with well over 20 GW of installed capacity.
On windy days, wind power generation has surpassed all other electricity sources in Spain; in November 2009, an ideal combination of wind storms across the country caused wind farms to produce a peak of 53% of total electricity demand. Power peaks of 14.960 GW were reached in November 2010, and in November 2011 a new capacity peak of 59% of power demand being generated by wind power was reached.
What is outstanding is that, with some exceptions, there has been little opposition to the installation of inland wind farms. However, off shore wind farms have produced more opposition, with locals fearing a downturn in fishing and tourism because of wind farms.
The proposal to build the biggest offshore wind power production facility in the world in southwestern Spain on the spot of the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar was met with strong opposition from the towns in the coast of Cádiz. area. There have also been complaints by the British, who claim that the area is a war grave and that any development of the area could destroy archaeological evidence of the historic battle. The British, particularly in England, are less concerned about their own offshore waters being used as a wind farms, so it’s ironic that some want to make a fuss about an area of the sea where a battle was fought over 200 years ago. The ghost of Lord Horatio Admiral Nelson lives on! The British also get a ,lot more hot under the collar about land-based wind farms. That may be because there’s a lot less land area than Spain, but it may also be because renewable energy has become a political football with the two sides of the British Coalition Government not seeing eye-to-eye on the future of wind power.
The British should look and learn from Spain, who are set to be the most green European country in the next few years!
