Wind Power Record in Spain
Wind Power Record In Spain
More electricity generated in Spain by wind power than any other source
wind | newsSpanish
wind turbine generators set a new generation record on 20th March. At 5.40pm local time 8,375 Mega Watts of electricity were generated from
wind power providing 27% of the nation's electricity supply. This made wind the biggest contributor to the Spanish national grid beating
nuclear (6,797 MW) and
coal (5,081 MW) into second and third places respectively.
In 2006
wind power contributed 9% of all of the electricity used in Spain, but recent gusty conditions led to the new record wind power output - the first time that wind power has exceeded the contribution from nuclear power to the national power grid according to national broadcaster
TVE.
Spanish Wind Power
Over the last few years Spain has had a massive wind turbine building programme building with
wind turbine generators installed on remote hillsides. Just in 2005, 1,680 Mega Watts of wind turbine generation capacity was added as Spain continues its aim of phasing out nuclear power. In May 2006 Spain closed the Zorito nuclear power plant (400MW).
Spain currently has the second highest installed wind power capacity in the world (after Germany) at over 11,000 Mega Watts, and aim to increase this capacity to 20,000 MW by 2010 with 2,000 Mega Watts to be added in 2007. By 2010 30% of electricity generated in Spain - half from
wind power and half from
solar power.
The
Navarra region of Spain generates 70% of its electricity needs from
renewable sources and will soon be self-sufficient. Its 900 MW of installed wind power capacity (soon to be increased) ranks it ahead of the whole of the UK.
More Information about Wind Power in Spain
If you are interested in finding out more about
wind power in Spain we recommend you download
Wind Power in Spain (PDF) from the
MIT Technology Review - part of their
New Technologies in Spain series. It was published at the end of December 2005 so some of the figures are out of date, but it is still packed with useful information, maps, and charts.
Article Last Modified: 08:50, 28th Mar 2007Comment on this Article
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