Spain's renewables share rises to 50.4% in December 2020

The Cañoneras wind farm in Cantabria. Source: Iberdrola (www.iberdrola.com)

Spain produced 50.4% of its electricity from renewable energy sources in December, according to the latest estimates released by Spanish grid operator Red Electrica de Espana (REE).

The new figure is an increase from November when renewables were estimated to account for 40.6% of the total power production in the country.

On December 28, wind farms in Spain hit a record by generating 403.8 GWh in a day, which REE said was the highest daily level for domestic wind power production since 2007.

With a share of 31.4% in the total power generation in December, wind farms dethroned nuclear energy as the biggest electricity producer for the month.

Over the 12 months of 2020, renewables generated 110,577 GWh, or 44% of the total power production in Spain.

REE’s estimates are presented in the table below:

Technology:	Share in December:	Estimated production in GWh:	Y/Y change:	Share in 2020:
Wind	31.4%	7,455	36.1%	21.8%
Solar PV	3.1%	734	41.7%	6.1%
Solar CSP	0.4%	88	27.5%	1.8%
Hydro	13.4%	3,181	-31.4%	12.2%
Nuclear	22.1%	5,261	21.0%	22.2%
Cogeneration	9.9%	2,363	0.7%	10.8%
Combined cycle	12.8%	3,049	-3.3%	17.5%
Coal	1.3%	307	-40.0%	2.0%

Spain’s demand for electricity in December rose by 1.4% year-on-year to estimated 22,419 GWh. Overall demand in 2020 fell by 5.6% to 249,970 GWh compared to 2019 levels.

In the final month of 2020, demand for power increased in the mainland and on the Balearic Islands, by 1.7% and 3.8%, respectively. On the Canary Islands, it dropped by 9.6% year-on-year.

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