CO ₂ emissions associated with electricity were reduced by 27.8% in 2020

Greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity production in Spain during 2020 were 27.8% lower than those registered in 2019, which was their lowest level since 2007, the first year with records.

This is clear from the data collected in the ‘Advance of the report of the Spanish electricity system 2020’ prepared by Red eléctrica de España (REE), a document that has been presented this Friday by the president of REE, Beatriz Corredor.

The fall in emissions linked to electricity production was much greater than the decrease in demand, which as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic was reduced by 5.6%, five times less. Specifically, it reached 249,819 gigawatt hours (GWh).

Last year, CO2-free production amounted to 67.3% of the total with 168,953 GWh of renewables and nuclear, which was also an all-time high in the generation of electricity without emissions since 2007.

Renewables produced 44% of total energy in Spain during the last year, generating 110,450 GWh from natural resources such as wind, sun and water, which represents an increase of 12.8% compared to 2019 data.

The report highlights the record production achieved by wind, responsible for more than a fifth of all annual generation, and solar photovoltaic, which registered an increase of 65% compared to the values of 2019-. Thus, these two renewable technologies were responsible for 21.9% and 6.1% of the country’s electricity.

Wind energy has thus become the second technology of a production structure, led by nuclear, with a share of 22.2% of the total. The third source of generation was the combined cycle, which generated 17.5% of the total, although it reduced its production by 20.3% compared to 2019.

Next, hydraulics, which has been the fourth technology that has produced the most GWh in 2020, experienced an increase in its production of 23% and reached a share of 12.2% of the national total.

At the other extreme, coal, whose production was reduced by 60.4% compared to the previous year, reached in 2020 its lowest share of participation in the mix, meaning only 2% of national production.

The decline of this technology, which in 2007 generated a quarter of the total energy in Spain, highlights the progress of the decarbonization process that the country follows through the ecological transition.

In parallel to the increase in production, in 2020 the installed renewable capacity increased by 4,015 megawatts (MW) with solar photovoltaic being the technology that most increased its presence with 29.5% compared to that of 2019; followed by wind energy that scores 5.3% more and becomes the leading technology.

In addition, during the past year, 3,951 MW of coal were decommissioned in Spain, which contributed to the fact that on December 31, 2020, the set of renewable installed capacity means 53.8% of the total Spanish production capacity.

Source: Diario Siglo XXI