Installed wind energy in Spain had reached 21,158 MW by June 30

AEE urges the Government to pass the new legislation that will replace the Royal Decree 661/2007 which expires at the end of 2012, ending this way the regulatory uncertainty that is paralyzing the industry. Without the new legislation, companies do not know the rules of the game from 2013 onwards, which prevents them from planning ahead.

As a result, there were only wind turbines orders for 220 MW during the whole of 2010 in contrast to the average 1,500 – 2,000 MW in previous years. The factory orders for wind turbines are made between 1.5 to two years before the construction of the farm, so this slowdown in sales should mainly be noted in the capacity figures of 2012. In any case, no more than average 1,500 MW per annum are expected to be installed over the coming years.

Furthermore, AEE has identified around 1,400 MW from the 7,148 MW initially registered in the Pre-Allocation Register (19.5% of total) that had construction problems before the registration deadline (December 31 2012) due to reasons that mostly had nothing to do with our sector, such as the breach of planning of the transport network, the delay in the distribution lines or administrative difficulties.

AEE warns that if the sector does not have new regulation this year, the fulfillment of the target of 35,750 MW of installed wind power stated on the Renewable Energies Plan 2011-20 will be jeopardized, also putting at risk more jobs in the industry.

In the first half of the year, wind power covered 17.2% of the electricity demand in Spain, with a total production of 22,146 GWh, according to data from Red Electrica de España (Spain´s System Operator). Although this is the generation of a wind average year, wind power in March was for the first time the technology that brought the most electricity to the system for a full month.

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