Renewable energies touch 50% of electricity generation in March and April

Renewable energies have reached a share of 49.4% and 47.9% of electricity generation in the months of March and April, as reported on Thursday by the president of Red Eléctrica de España (REE), Beatriz Corredor, during a visit by the Kings to its control facilities. Since the lockdown began, demand has fallen by as much as 20% in the weeks of maximum paralysis of the economy, at the beginning of last month. In this context, photovoltaic solar energy has gained ground, conquering its highest monthly participation rate in history, explained those responsible for the company owned by the State.

The Kings visited the Control Centre of Red Eléctrica de España (Cecoel) to see first-hand the work that the company, which manages the entire electricity transmission infrastructure in Spain, carries out to guarantee the supply. The Cecoel, considered as the brain of the national electrical system, is the center from which the system is operated and monitored in real time. Among many other functions, it has to program the coverage of the electricity demand. In addition, it tracks the status of the transport network using the company’s telecommunications network.

The kings Felipe and Letizia have visited the center accompanied by the president and CEO of the company, Roberto García Merino; by the fourth vice-president and Minister of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera; the Minister of the Presidency of the Community of Madrid, María Eugenia Carballedo; the mayor of Alcobendas (Madrid), Rafael Sánchez Acera; and Red Eléctrica’s Chief Operating Officer, Miguel Duvison. During the tour they greeted the operators of the center and were able to know, among other issues, the effects of the pandemic on electricity demand and the energy mix, as designated to the percentage of participation of the different methods to originate electricity in the whole of the energy consumed.

According to those responsible for REE, in the first week after the declaration of the state of alarm, on March 14, the fall in demand was 8%, which increased to 10% in the following week. Subsequently, coinciding with the 15 days of maximum confinement decreed by the Government, and in which all non-essential economic activity was paralyzed, the collapse in demand reached 20%. In the remainder of the month of April, electricity consumption was about 15% lower than a year earlier, so according to preliminary data, the whole month registered an average fall of 17%.

As for the generation of that electricity, during the meeting with the Kings it was explained that the coronavirus crisis has not produced significant changes in the structure. However, the availability of renewables in the set of energy produced has increased. As a consequence, both March and April have been months in which green energies have contributed to the whole more than 37.5% that, on average, they represented last year. Specifically, in the third month of this year energy from renewable sources reached 49.4%, while in the following month it fell slightly to 47.9%.

Source: The Country