Renewable energy has grown substantially in Spain, for example in one part of Spain the tiny island of El Hierro has finally reached its goal to be powered by 100 % wind and water, take a look at how they have done this, and how this tiny island is a leading example of what is possible in today’s climate-conscious environment.
Spain receives the vast majority of its electricity from carbon-free zero-emissions sources with most of the renewable electricity generated from wind. Spain has long been a world leader in renewable energy and recently it became the first country in the world to have wind as its top source of energy for an entire year.
There is no excuse for sunny Spain to make full use of its main powerful energy resource, The sun! According to Solar Power Europe, Spain is the leader in the solar power market in Europe and continues to strive to meet renewable energy goals, 74% in the electricity sector and 42% in ultimate energy consumption by the end of 2030.
A further source of renewable energy comes from nuclear. The two sources, wind and nuclear, often compete for the title of Spain’s top electricity generation source overall with wind coming out tops. In 2015, from January to March, according to Red Electrica de Espana (REE),wind-generated 23.7 % of electricity whilst nuclear made up 22.7 per cent.
Also, Spain is developing alternative renewable sources of energy, particularly PV power systems. Currently solar accounts for approximately 3% of electricity generation making this industry one of the largest in the world.Spain´s aggressive goals to be world leaders in renewable energy have led to heavy government subsidies, which in turn has resulted in economic distress, with a debt of around €26 billion. Consequently, with subsidies forced to be slashed, the race for world domination in renewable energy has slowed but Spain still has impressive goals and we can only commend them on their energy driven intentions.