Spanish wind energy has record month in March

Wind turbines in Spain has set two new records in March: it was the month in which it produced more electricity in its history and, for the first time, it was the technology that generated more power in Spain with a total production of 4,738 GWh, according to data from Red Eléctrica de España (REE -Spanish TSO-). It was followed by nuclear energy, combined cycles and hydro. Wind farm plants covered 21% of the electricity demand. March´s wind energy generation could cover the whole monthly consumption of Portugal.

In March, the solar power accounted for 2.6% and 17.3% hydro. Along with wind turbines, renewable energy produced 41%, more than double that of nuclear energy. Spain exports electricity to France, so Spain do not need the French nuclear power stations, in spite of repeated falsehoods of other pro-nuclear lobby.

“This historic milestone reached by wind energy shows that this technology is not only indigenous, clean and competitive, but also capable of supplying already 13 Million average Spanish households" said José Donoso, President of the Spanish Wind Energy Association (AEE).

Wind power slows down the need for more expensive technologies that use fossil fuels. This, added to the high water resource in 2010, motivated that electricity prices in the Spanish market were among the cheapest in Europe last year. This was the main reason why Spain exported electricity to France in 2010 for the first time in an annual period. The average annual cost of the Spanish electricity market in 2010 was 38 €/MWh, compared to the 47.5 €/MWh in France.

The set of renewable technologies covered in March 42.2% of electricity demand, down from 48.5% in 2010, because the hydro production last year was much higher. In the entire first quarter of 2011, renewable energies have covered 40.5% of demand, slightly less than the same period of 2010, when they reached 44%.

In addition, in March 57.9% of electricity is generated with technologies that do not emit CO2. The electricity demand in March has grown by 0.1% over the same month last year, reaching 22,799 GWh. For its part, the gross demand, which does not take into account the effects of seasonal and working temperatures have risen by 0.2% compared to March 2010.

In the entire first quarter the electricity demand was 67,774 GWh, 1.1% higher than last year. Gross electricity consumption in the first three months of the year has decreased by 0.5% over the same period of 2010.

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