• Wind power met 19.4% of energy demand in 2015, with production falling •
Spain’s Asociacion Empresarial Eolica (Wind Energy Association, or AEE), has called 2015 the “blackest year in the history of windpower” in Spain, saying that not a single new megawatt of windpower capacity was installed during the year and noting that wind energy production fell 5.8 percent over levels attained in 2014.
Spain, which has 22,988 megawatts of installed wind power capacity and was seen at the forefront of wind energy growth in Europe until changes to Spain’s energy legislation pushed through Congress in 2013 by the conservative Popular Party (PP) placed renewable energy at a disadvantage to electricity generation with fossil fuels. Prior to that, wind had been the primary source of electricity in Spain in a whole year in 2013 for the first time in history.
A 2005 report showed the Spanish wind energy sector had over 500 companies involved, with approximately 150 wind turbine production plants and their machinery across the country. Including those indirectly employed in supplying components and services, the total number of jobs supported by Spain’s wind industry had reached more than 30 000 and was estimated to double to 60 000 by 2010.
This lack of growth is disappointing when you compare this with other countries. Wind energy in the United States, for example, has made impressive strides forward over the past 6 years (learn more). The AEE said that the Spanish wind power industry is surviving through exports for now, but warned that if the current trend continues the country will move further away from compliance with European targets for renewable energy consumption that Spain has pledged to meet by 2020.
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