Spain’s economy has taken a battering in the last few years of recession-  but there’s a ray of gold that shines bright in the gloom: In 2013, Spain produced over one-fifth of its energy with wind turbines. In fact, according to reports from Spain’s energy regulator, the Spanish Wind Energy Association (AEE) it drew a plurality of its power from wind energy for the whole of the year…. enough to power about 15.5 million households.
Nuclear power came in a coming in second at 20.8 percent, just a fraction behind wind power’s 20.9 percent. Wind energy usage was up over 13 percent from the year before, according to the report just published.
So in 2013 when Spain had very rocky times, and subsidies for renewables were reigned in due to the economic recession, it is good to see that Spain’s wind power survived and even indicates a viable economic future for the country based on renewable energy.
Last year it is estimated (by an industry report from REE; Red Electric Espana) that greenhouse emissions were lowered by 23 percent as a result of renewable energy being used instead of fossil fuels.

It’s not all wind: Spain has one of the largest solar industries in the world, with solar power accounting for almost 2,000 megawatts in 2012. Although that is a lot more than many countries, it is still just a fraction of the energy produced by wind power in Spain. In 2013, solar power accounted for just 3.1 percent of Spain’s energy.

For comparison purposes, the US produced less than ten percent of its energy from renewable sources last year, of which only 15 percent was from wind.

But is everything coming up roses for Spain? Not really- it’s not clear how the wind will fare in 2014 with continued  Government deep cutting of subsidies. It has a whopping $35 billion renewable energy deficit. Why would one want to invest in renewables when it seems that they can’t survive without heavy subsidies? This is despite ambitious energy goals set by the EU and the UN.

This is a problem that faces other EU countries too, and one must hope that green energy isn’t sacrificed for short-term economic belt-tightening.

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