At the end of September, 28,665 MW of photovoltaic energy were in service in Spain

Photovoltaic energy installed 888 MW in the Spanish electricity system in Q3. At the end of September, 28,665 MW of photovoltaic energy were in service in Spain, according to provisional data from REE. This represents an increase of 3.2% compared to the previous quarter, and solar energy led renewable growth.

Renewable energy reached 80,885 MW installed in the Spanish electricity system at the end of September, according to provisional data from REE compiled in the quarterly report of the Renewable Energy Observatory of Foro Sella, prepared by Opina 360. This represents an increase of 941 MW (1.2%) compared to the previous quarter. Once again, solar photovoltaic energy accounted for almost all of the growth, with 888 MW more (3.2%), up to a total of 28,665. It continued to close the gap with wind power, which in the third quarter only added 53 MW (0.2%), to reach 31,532 MW.

The rise in renewable power and the slight decrease in non-renewable sources, due to the reduction of 17 MW of cogeneration, made it possible for green energy to represent 63.1% of the total national generating park, which reached 128,093 MW.

Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, renewable power increased by 5,241 MW, 6.9%. Four out of every five new megawatts were from solar photovoltaic: 4,287 MW more, an increase of 17.6%.

Renewable energy generation maintained its growth rate during the third quarter of the year: it rose by 20.5% year-on-year, a percentage almost identical to the previous quarter, reaching a total of 36,689 GWh. Solar photovoltaic energy was once again the main protagonist, with 15,358 GWh, 23.7% more than in the same period of the previous year. Thanks to this, it was the main generating source of the national electricity system for the second consecutive quarter, even surpassing a nuclear power plant that was fully operational.

In absolute figures, the leading regions in renewable energy this quarter were Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura and Aragon, which contributed 75% of all the green energy generated in the country during the quarter. However, the communities with the highest percentage of green energy in their total generation are Castile and Leon (88.7%) and Aragon (85.9%). On the other side are the Valencian Community, Catalonia, the Basque Country and the Balearic Islands, all of them below 20%.

According to sources, Castile-La Mancha and Extremadura practically tied as leaders in photovoltaic generation in the third quarter (3,764 and 3,732 GWh, respectively). Between them they produce almost half of the country’s photovoltaic energy. Closely followed by Andalusia (3,426 GWh, 22.3%). For its part, Castile and Leon led wind power production (2,615 GWh, 20.4% of the total), a short distance behind Aragon (2,586 and 20.2%). It so happens that Castile and Leon was also the region that generated the most hydraulic energy in the third quarter (1,718 GWh).

In the cumulative total for the first nine months of the year, renewable energy production (115,438 GWh) increased by 16.5%, which contrasts with the 16.7% drop in non-renewable generation (85,576 GWh). Although domestic demand grew by 0.8% in this period, electricity production fell by 0.4%, due to the reduction in international export balances.