Okay, let's look into Spain and alternative energy sources.
Renewable energy in Spain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Renewable Energy in Spain
Renewable Energy (RE)
RE as % of Gross Final Energy Consumption. 16.2% (2014)
Target for above. 20.0% (2020)
Renewable Electricity
Percentage electricity generated by RE. 42.8% (2014)
RE generated / Total electricity generation. 111,459/266,867 GWh Net(2014)
[1]
Record % RE covered electricity consumption
64.2% (24/9/12
wind only)
[2]
Installed capacity (2015)[3]
Wind Power 23 GW
Bio Energy 0.75 GW
Solar Power 7 GW
Hydro Power 20.3 GW
Geothermal 0 GW
Total 51.1 GW
Country Notes
- One of the worldleaders in windpower generation and turbine manufacturing.
- Europes second largest total windpower capacity after Germany.
Electricity from Renewable Sources in Spain represented 42.8% of electricity demand coverage during 2014. The country has a very large wind power capability built up over many years and is one of the world leaders in wind power generation.
Initially Spain also positioned itself as a European leader in Solar power, by 2007-2010 the country was second only to Germany in installed capacity, however other countries (
Italy in particular) have since leapfrogged Spanish development. By 2015 solar power in Spain though significant produced less than a third of that of wind power in 2015.
Spain has set the target of generating 20% of all its energy needs from
renewable energy sources by 2020.
[4] By the end of 2014 Spain had reached a level of 16.2% of all its energy needs from renewable energy sources.
[5]
The story of renewable energy development in Spain is both a mixed and unfinished one. Under previous subsidies the country expanded its renewable base rapidly and helped established a domestic industry in both wind turbine and solar energy. However support was drastically cut back following the global financial crisis and new installations stagnated between 2012 and 2015. The debts incurred during the boom period have led to tougher and retrospective revisions of contracts to providers of renewable energy reducing returns considerably. In being one of the first-to-market countries, Spain faces the challenge of powerful competitors from countries such as
Denmark,
Germany and
China and ironically a cheaper and more mature renewable energy sector which Spain itself helped to pioneer.
In 2015 solar power suddenly demonstrated a possible way through the impasse. The continued fall in prices for solar systems and Spain's abundant sunshine led to prices for solar power reaching grid price parity. Suddenly there was the potential for sustained and spontaneous growth in solar installations in Spain as households and producers could produce power more economically. However the Spanish government introduced what has been dubbed the worlds first "sun tax" on solar installations making them economically less viable as well as draconian fines (up to
60 million Euros) for anyone not complying with the tax.
The tax has proved highly controversial. On the one hand the government has argued that those generating their own power still rely on the national grid for power backup and so should be liable for contributing to the cost. On the other hand, the solar industry has argued that the government is simply trying to protect the centralised established power producers who's revenues would be threatened by this competiitve solar threat. Environmentalists have criticised the tax for artificially blocking Spain from continuing its long standing movement to renewable energy production.
Whatever the merits of both arguments, the controversy can only become more heightened as the price of solar energy continues to fall and if PV solar power installed capacity in Spain were to continue sliding down the EU league from 12th position in 2014 (
102.9 kW per 1000 inhabitants). In the same year in terms of wind energy production Spain was much stronger in 3rd position (
495 kW per1000 inhabitants).
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Not quite the way you described it.
