Wind farms break energy record in Spain

Over the last three months wind farms produced more electricity than any other power source in Spain for the first time ever, an industry group has said.

The country delivered over six terawatt hours of electricity from wind farms during January, according to data from grid operator Red Electrica de Espana, the Spanish Wind Energy Association said in a statement.

“Since November 1, wind has been the top technology in the electrical system,” the group said in a blog posting. “The last time any technology exceeded six terawatt-hours of monthly generation was in 2010, when it was combined-cycle gas turbines.”

The performance means wind energy exceeded output from both nuclear and coal-fired power stations and represents more than a quarter of Spain’s total power generation.

Spain has been looking to boost its wind power capacity as part of the government’s efforts to cut carbon emissions.

The news came in the same week as German wind energy industry association BWE said it expects developers to add between 3GW and 3.5GW of capacity this year, far outstripping the 2.4GW installed in 2012.

The surge in new capacity will be largely driven by new offshore wind farms coming online and will mean the country remains on track to meet its goal of generating around 40 per cent of its electricity form renewables by 2020, up from about 25 per cent currently.

http://www.businessgreen.com/