47% of the energy generated by Spain is already renewable

The eighth day of the Climate Summit begins today with a

: renewables will be essential to achieve the objectives against climate change.

Delegations from the 190 participating countries will discuss this in the Egyptian city of Sharm el Sheikh, at a summit marked by the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine.

What is the situation in Spain in the face of the necessary energy transition?

In the last decade, progress has been remarkable, although there are still pending issues.

In 2012, the production of clean energy generated was around 30% of the total -wind contributed 17.1%, hydraulics, 7.3%;

photovoltaic, 2.9% and thermoelectric, 1.2% - while

.

In 2022, with provisional data up to August, clean energy represents 41.3% of total renewable energy, although the data is affected by a summer in which much more energy has been exported to France and this was produced in large measured by combined cycle plants, which use gas.

"The renewable energy industry in Spain is very powerful in terms of installation and energy generated," explains Alejandro de Juanes, an expert in climate change and director of Climate Projects at Enefgy, who assures that this trend will increase when the year closes.

In ten years the power has increased more than 14 million megawatt hours.

In July of this year, they were close to 100 million.

Spain has

to generate this type of

: the Wind and sun.

Wind and solar (both photovoltaic and, to a lesser extent, thermal) are the two most widely used renewable energies in our country.

This year, wind energy has already accounted for 22.1% of total electricity, four percentage points above that generated in 2012 and, again, weighed down by a drop in the summer months: in 2021 it contributed 23.3 %.

The largest increase has been in photovoltaic solar, which if between 2012 and 2019 had an average of 2.9%, so far this year it already represents 10.8% (the installed power has gone from 8.7 GW to more than 18 GW in these three years).

On the other hand, solar thermal has been the one with the lowest growth in the last decade, with a rise of just 0.5 points, reaching 1.7% as of August 2022.

According to data from the European Network of Electricity Transmission Network Managers (ENTSO-E), in 2021 Spain became the second country that generated the most electricity with wind and solar power in the entire European Union.

The change by community and through the years has also been notable.

So far this year,

is the community with the highest production of clean energy over its total on the national scene with 66.7%;

57.4% from wind power and 9.6% photovoltaic.

, with 63.1% total renewables, of which 49.3% correspond to wind power and 13.8% to photovoltaic, is the second with the highest generation, followed by Castilla La Mancha, with 31.1 %;

25%;

and 2.3% destined to wind and solar photovoltaic and thermal, respectively, adding a total of 58.4%.

As can be seen in the graphs prepared by EL MUNDO, the areas with the largest territory are also those with the greatest contribution of renewables to their 'mix'.

This is because both solar panels and wind turbines need a space that smaller communities like Madrid or Cantabria do not have.

In any case, the trend is unstoppable and has been reinforced by the Government's commitment to renewables.

The

) proposes objectives for the installation of renewables that would, in principle, allow the abandonment of other sources, such as nuclear (its final closure is planned for 2035. "Photovoltaic energy technology is already prepared: it is efficient and cheap to compete with others" , says the director of Energy projects. In what both he and Mercedes Irujo, manager of Acciona Energía, agree is that it is necessary to give it a boost from the administration. "It takes between four and five years to get a project off the ground," explains de Juanes, although he assures that recently that time has been reduced."There is money and there is technology. They need to align wills," he points out.

However, one of the problems, as Irujo states, is storage.

. "

The climate expert also agrees with this, who assures that a plan is already being worked on to improve storage as much as possible.

Green hydrogen and pumpable power plants are two ways of storing it that are already being considered.

But, can climate change affect renewable energy?

The rise in temperatures and the drought already mark a more than remarkable paradigm shift, although it will not be a problem for 'green' energies.

But what they will have to do is adapt to the way it is generated: "Climate change does not particularly affect it, although what is going to change are the conditions," says the Energy expert.

This is the case of hydraulics, which this year has felt the impact of the drought in Spain and Portugal.

"Now it rains less, but more concentrated in a short period of time. We will have to adapt it and expand the capacity to store water," he adds.

To continue meeting climate objectives, Spain would have to consume

.

In 2020, it was halfway to the goal, 21.2%, according to data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, but it exceeded the goal of 20% set by the European Union.

The experts consulted assure that this goal is possible, but that Spain must "get its batteries".

Even so, from Greenpeace, they assure that this progress is insufficient.

"Globally, the increase in renewables should multiply by three in the world each year in order to reach the expected decarbonization before 2050," explains Sara Pizzinato, spokesperson for the NGO.

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