Spain on target for 2020 - PES
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
COUNTRY FOCUS
Spain on target for 2020
Wind energy has set two new records in 2011: in March, it produced
more electricity than in its history and, for the first time, it was the technology
that generated more power in Spain than any other resource.
Spanish renewables generation over the first Wind energy, and specifically the rapid – Spain´s TSO – and the wind sector. All this
two months of 2011 covered 38 per cent of deployment of farms slowed down the need translates into the effectiveness of the
national consumption, with wind producing for more expensive technologies that use Spanish model.
nearly half of this, according to statistics from fossil fuels. This, added to the high water
grid operator Red Eléctrica de España (REE). resource in 2010, meant that electricity prices Like Spain, Germany has an incentive
To give these figures some context, during in the Spanish market were among the system for wind energy based on
March wind energy in Spain produced enough cheapest in Europe last year. This was the environmental premiums (feed in tariff),
electricity to meet Portugal’s monthly main reason why Spain exported electricity to considered by the European Commission to
consumption. France in 2010 for the first time in an annual be the most efficient in Europe in economic
period. The average annual cost of the terms. New German wind farms perceived
“This historic milestone reached by wind Spanish electricity market in 2010 was last year 92 Euros per MWh, compared to
energy shows that this technology is not only 38 €/MWh, compared to the 47.5 €/MWh the average 77 Euros that received the
indigenous, clean and competitive, but also in France. Spanish ones. Spain is, together with
capable of supplying already 13 million Portugal, the European Union country with
average Spanish households” said José The wind figure is nearly half a percentage lower wind tariffs.
Donoso, President of the Spanish Wind point up on its 16.5 per cent penetration level
Energy Association (AEE). over the whole of 2010, which consolidated Given the proven effectiveness of the
that technology as the third main generator in system, the Spanish wind industry believes
In fact, a report from the International Energy Spain behind gas (30.4 per cent) and nuclear that the new regulation to be issued by the
Agency (IEA) shows that Spain is (20 per cent). The Spanish government is Government should be based on the current
the fourth largest net exporter (it exported targeting 20.8 per cent wind penetration system. For wind energy to continue its
more than it imported) of the European Union, by 2020. development and Spain to meet the 2020
after France, Germany and Czech Republic. In European targets, the Government needs to
total, Spain exported electricity worth of 8.3 National wind association Asociación now set the new regulatory framework to
TWh in 2010. Last year, there were only six Empresarial Eólica (AEE) sees growing replace the Royal Decree 661/2007, which
European countries that exported electricity. penetration as proof of what it calls the expires at the end of 2012. The installation of
sector’s “world class grid integration wind farms requires long maturation periods
The figure is just two percentage points technologies”. (six to eight years), so companies need to
behind the EU’s binding target for the country know now the conditions under which the
by 2020, set at 40 per cent. It is also exactly Unlike Germany – who Spain will be battling sector can be developed from 2013.
double the penetration achieved by nuclear for the top spot in the table of Europe’s wind
power and just short of doubling top-dog energy producing countries – 2010 was a year Further to the economic benefits, as well as
generator, combined cycle gas, which of high levels of wind. Spain also enjoys the obvious environmental benefits brought
covered 21 per cent. comparatively lower generation costs. It has by saving many thousands of tons in CO2,
more modern wind turbines than Germany wind energy in Spain employs a massive
Combined small and large hydro production (the wind energy market began to develop 135,000 people, and as industry has grown
topped the penetration chart for renewables later than Germany) and it has a better grid up around the booming market, Spain now
at 19 per cent over January and February, integration system thanks to the work carried exports 2 billion Euros of technology, and
closely followed by wind, at 17 per cent. out between Red Eléctrica de España (REE) invests over 150 Million Euros in research
62 PES: Europe
COUNTRY FOCUS
and development, with Gamesa, the leading “Future growth in Spain depends heavily on world leader in the design, manufacture
Spanish turbine manufacturer this year the new regulatory framework”, says Franco. and maintenance of wind turbines –
opening a technology centre in Singapore The government has set the goal of 35,000 inaugurating its first manufacturing base in
that will work with Singapore universities and MW worth of onshore wind turbines and 750 Brazil, in the town of Camaçari in north-
the Singapore Agency for Science to focus MW of offshore turbines installed by 2020. eastern Bahía this year. With this
on advanced materials research. “As leaders These goals are not very ambitious, given development, the company has begun to
in technology, we are determined to offer our Spain’s previous record of expansion, but make wind turbines in Brazil, just six
customers the best solutions for generating reasonable considering the economic months after it announced its decision to
wind energy,” said Gamesa Chairman Jorge circumstances. establish a manufacturing and sales
Calvet at the facility’s opening ceremony, presence in this country with the ultimate
“We are convinced that our alliance with Measures taken to address the challenges aim of making Brazil one of its core
these institutions will help us to remain at the presented by the economic climate include a medium-term growth markets.
forefront of advanced materials research, a feed-in-tariff system which has helped the
field in which our new partners are likewise a industry through the difficult times. Many With productive capacity of 400 MW,
global benchmark.” industry representatives agree that there is Gamesa’s new plant assembles nacelles for
still a large untapped potential for the 2.0 MW wind turbines (G9X and G8X).
In spite of the fact that Spain is facing severe onshore wind industry in Spain, both in Gamesa’s industrial activity in this Brazilian
economic difficulties, an ambitious decision terms of locations and grid infrastructure. town will create 100 direct jobs and will
to further support the development of contribute to the development of the
renewable energy sources could be on its Looking to the future of wind energy in Brazilian wind power industry. Ultimately,
way. According to Spanish newspaper Cinco Spain, there are factors affecting the local suppliers will account for as much
Días, the Spanish government plans to industry that will need to be addressed as it as 60 per cent of the components used by
quintuple its financial support for the use of moves forward. A more detailed prediction the company to produce its wind turbines
renewable energy sources such as solar and of meteorological information could in the Brazil.
wind power. The country is going to spend increase efficiency of wind turbines,
€18.5 billion on renewable energy projects allowing electric companies and wind farm The plant in Brazil follows on from
from 2011 to 2020, a yearly increase in the operators to predict with a high level of Gamesa’s fifth factory in China in the city of
support to the industry ranging from €529 accuracy when wind will pick up and slow Da’an in Jilin province, one of the nation’s
million to €2.65 billion in 2020. down. The capability of the wind farms most important wind resource hubs. The
network to hold all the electricity harnessed facility, which will assemble 2 MW nacelles
In the past, the political support in Spain for by wind power, predominantly in off-peak for Gamesa’s G9X range, will initially have
renewable energy projects has been very times, the cost of energy, and the annual capacity of 500 MW.
strong, but the new regulatory framework environmental effect that the abundance
will give the Spanish government the of wind farm development in Spain This new facility reinforces Gamesa’s
“opportunity to show how strong its support could have. position in China, where it already has four
will be in the coming years”, says Sonia factories (blades, generators, nacelle and
Franco, Communications Director for the Away from home, the Spanish wind turbine gearbox assembly) in Tianjin province, the
Spanish Wind Power Association industry has increasingly looked to expand company’s largest manufacturing base
(Asociación Empresarial Eólica). its operations abroad with Gamesa – a outside Spain.
www.peswind.com 63
COUNTRY FOCUS
Setting the benchmark would wreak havoc on birds’ migratory municipal licence awarded for its
patterns, obstruct navigation channels, and construction to be null.
In just a decade, Spain has gone from blight the coastline.
producing two per cent of its energy from The wind farm is in the Serra del Tallat, and
renewables to nearly 20 per cent, with much As with most opposition to wind farm the order to demolish comes following the
of this coming from wind power generation. developments in Europe, it is often a complaint from the protest group ‘Salvem El
Currently, wind power in Spain generates question of people being in favour of wind Tallat’, They criticised the visual impact of
enough electricity to cover the consumption energy as long as the farm is not built on the windmills and their effect on migratory
of 10 million families. their doorstep. The system for paying birds, and notes an environmental study
compensation for the implementation of from University of Barcelona which declares
Spain is geographically well suited to wind wind farms pays only to the municipality in the sierra to be important.
energy generation; an abundance of open which the farm is sited, instead of to every
space with relatively low population levels municipality which can see it, which has In a statement, the judge stated that the
means a reduced impact on local seen growing opposition to new building permit for construction of the wind
communities, and as the country has come developments that sit on regional boundaries farm is null and void since it was granted
relatively late to the renewables market – allowing farms to be developed in close without any prior plan to establish a
(installing much of their technology in the last proximity to local populations without proper municipal general reservation of land for this
ten years), Spain enjoys far more modern, consultation with communities. purpose. The Town Hall in Vallbona de les
and therefore more efficient technology. Monges has now been ordered to return the
While it may seem like Spain is charging land to its original state.
Spain has enjoyed far less opposition to ahead and setting the benchmark for the
wind farm development than many other rapid deployment of wind farms, a recent The farm started to generate 49.5 MW of
European countries, though it is not without decision to dismantle an already operational power from its 80m high windmills at the end
its critics. Recently, there has been farm in Spain sends a clear warning that of 2007 after an investment of 50 million, and
increasingly vocal support against certain proper processes must be followed in the the company concerned says it will appeal to
planned projects, largely on historical or implementation of these farms - even in a the Catalan High Court. Clearly, Spain’s
conservational grounds. The sites that have country that appears to have fully embraced booming renewables industry, while a great
met with the greatest hostility from local the technology. The judge ordered that success, is still subject to the pressures that
groups are offshore developments – the most of a 33 windmill wind farm be have hampered other countries in developing
arguments against claiming the turbines demolished in Lleida, considering the a successful wind energy industry.
64 PES: EuropeYou can also read
