If we solve this problem, Spain will be a superpower in renewable energy

Today the panorama that is presented to Spain in the face of the rise of renewable energies could not be more hopeful and flattering. The country is heading in the direction of a ambitious objective: reach 42% of final energy consumption and 74% of all electricity generation with renewable energy. However, is it possible to achieve it?

The European Union, and Spain in particular, have the the need to end dependence on Russian fuels and thus achieve energy autonomy that would end with the economic and political problems derived from it.

Spain has in its favor its magnificent facilities and the energy that it is capable of generating, but for this it must begin to consider it as a true alternative and thus be able to break the ties that unite it with Russia.

fight against climate change

Last November, during the Climate Summit, in its day dedicated to energy, the need for renewables in order to fight climate change became clear.

In this energy transitionSpain has had a very notable growthand it is that when in 2012 the production of clean energy generated was around 30% of the total, in 2021 it was already at 47% and in 2022 it also exceeded 40%.

In line with this, Alejandro de Juanes, an expert in climate change and director of Climate Projects at Enefgy, assured that “the renewable energy industry in Spain is very powerful in terms of installation and energy generated.”

It is confident that the trend will be to increase, expecting that in a period of ten years the power will have increased by more than 14 million megawatts per hour.

1/ 295 GW of renewable capacity were installed in 2022. The vast majority was solar photovoltaic (192 GW) and wind (75 GW), but I would like to talk about the other renewables, which we talk about less. From the data in the report @IRENA From 2022 some things caught my attention.. pic.twitter.com/1sHNe29jRa

—Pedro Fresco (@PedroFresco) March 22, 2023

The evolution of renewable energy

Spain has in its power two bulwarks that make it stand at the forefront of the future production of renewable energy, wind and sun. In the year 2021 Spain was placed as the second country in the European Union to generate more electricity from solar and wind energy.

Such is the case that wind and solar energy are the renewable energies with the greatest demand in Spain, with the use of wind energy standing at 22.1% of total electricity and solar photovoltaic representing 10.8% and 1.7% thermal.

But what about today? What is the evolution of our renewable energies? Today renewables continue unstoppable. The energy sector is one of the main causes of the production of greenhouse gases, so evolving in renewable energy is essential if we want to contribute to the fight against climate change.

Renewable energies are effective in two aspects: on the one hand, they contribute to reducing emissions into the atmosphere, and on the other hand, they reduce energy dependence by seeking a local and safe supply. With these objectives, Spain is among the 15 largest consumers of clean energy in the worldand it is that the consumption that is made in our country of renewable energies is 20.7% of final gross consumption.

Wind energy is the first clean energy source in Spain, after surpassing hydraulics in 2009. 53% of the green energy generated in Spain since 2022 comes from wind turbines installed by the Spanish geography. For its part, solar energy reached historical data in 2022, standing at a photovoltaic generation of 27,865 gigawatt hours.

What are renewable energies used for in Spain?

The uses that are given to renewable energies in Spain are three. The first of these is the generation of electricity, and that is that a large percentage of the renewable energy that is produced between our borders is used for this.

Thus, the production of this energy reached 42.2% in 2022 and represented over 59% of the country’s electrical power, that is, 70,400 megawatts of renewable capacity.

The other two uses are the production of heat and cold, assuming 18% of the total energy consumed in the heating and cooling systems for the residential area, and a meager 9.5% in the case of the transport area.

The problem: energy dependence

When we talk about energy dependence, we refer to the amount of primary energy, in the form of heat, electricity or for transport, that the country needs to import in order to be supplied.

This Foreign dependence for energy supply has consequences such as instability in supply by depending on other countries to have energy and the affectation on the economy, since we depend on the continuous increases in the energy price.

Faced with the increase in the electricity bill that the Spaniards are going through, salvation lies in definitively ending energy dependence, and that is 74% of the energy we consume, according to data collected by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), we buy from other countries.

Other aspects to resolve

If we have the means, the challenges that now arise are others. on the one hand to get that the electrical networks of our country are sustainable and reducing our carbon emissions into the atmospherebut also to achieve the access of the new renewable installations to the system by approving the accesses of new renewable parks, promoting digitization and integration of all energies.

Likewise, the self consumption is one of the items on the table that need to be defined. This bidirectional system will allow Spanish homes and businesses to have access to energy, its management and control of its surpluses.

Renewable energies must become the lifeline of our economy, and it is that we do not lack the means for it. In this sense, Spain, and especially Andalusia, is the sun of Europe, which is why it has the necessary instruments to make renewable energy the source from which to drink and place itself at the forefront in energy production.

The National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) maintains that renewable energies will increase progressively, reaching 74% in 2030 and 100% by 2050.