2021, the renewable year par excellence

46.7% of last year’s national electricity generation came from renewable sources, a record that exceeds that achieved in 2020, when the record stood at 44%, according to data advanced this Friday by Red Eléctrica de España (REE) and collected in the ‘Report of the Spanish electricity system 2021’.

The document reveals that last year ‘green’ technologies produced 121,305 gigawatt hours (GWh), 9.7% more than in 2020, and that wind energy production was the most outstanding with 60,485 GWh generated (10.3% more than the price year) and a share of 23.3% within the energy mix.

In that sense, the next technology with the greatest weight in the general electricity generation structure was nuclear, which, despite producing 3.1% less than in 2020, reached a share of 20.8%. It was followed by the combined cycle (17.1%), which is the technology that uses gas to generate electricity, hydraulics (11.4%) and solar photovoltaic (8%).

Coal continued its decline in 2021 and its production was 0.7% lower than that of 2020, “which translates into a share of 1.9%, a figure very far from that registered in 2007, when this technology generated almost a quarter of the total,” explains REE.

The greater weight of renewables in the electricity production mix in 2021 caused the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with its activity, so last year the national historical minimum of emissions was registered with 35.9 million tons.

THE INSTALLED CAPACITY OF SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC SKYROCKETS

Another highlight of the REE report is that the installed capacity of solar photovoltaic technology increased by 28.8% in 2021 compared to the previous year, to total 15,048 megawatts (MW).

Specifically, last year more than 3,300 megawatts of this technology were incorporated into the national generation park, a boost that has allowed its production to experience an increase of 36.7% compared to 2020.

For the president of Red Eléctrica, Beatriz Corredor, the ecological transition “is the only way to achieve Europe’s energy sovereignty and is an indisputable lever” for economic recovery. “We have been working on this path for years and the data for 2021 are an unequivocal sign that we are moving at a good pace and with a firm step,” he stressed during the presentation of the report.

Beyond the advance of solar photovoltaics, in 2021 wind generation had 28,175 megawatts of installed power, followed by combined cycle (26,250), hydraulic (17,094), solar photovoltaic (15,048), nuclear (7,117), cogeneration (5,639) and coal (3,764).

Thus, coal reduced its installed capacity by almost 2,000 MW and starred in 2021 the largest decrease of the year, reducing its capacity by 34.3% compared to 2020.

ENERGY DEMAND INCREASED BY 2.5%

The REE report also reveals that the demand for electricity advanced by 2.5% in 2021 within the framework of its recovery after the impact of the pandemic and, specifically, consumption stood at 256,387 GWh.

As a curiosity included in the report, January 8, 2021 at 2:05 p.m. was the moment in which the maximum demand was registered in the peninsular electricity system, which reached a consumption of 42,225 MW.

Regarding the availability of the peninsular network, during the past year it reached a share of 98.5%, very similar to the percentage of the previous year, highlights REE.

Source: The Energy Newspaper