Green Energy Milestone: Industry Says Wind is Spain’s Top Electricity Source

By ⋅ February 4, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment
Wind Turbines, Southern Spain (Photo: iStockphoto)

Wind Turbines, Southern Spain (Photo: iStockphoto)

Wind Turbines, Southern Spain (Photo: iStockphoto)[/caption]We’ve heard a lot about recently about the growing pains of renewable power in Europe. Economic woes and low coal prices have combined to whip up a steep headwind for many green energy projects there.

But it’s hardly all bad news for European backers of green energy. Consider this:

In the three months ending January 31st, wind power was the single largest source of electricity in Spain for the first time ever, according to the Spanish Wind Energy Association. In January alone, the association says, Spanish windfarms produced more than 6 terawatt-hours of electricity.

That’s more than a quarter of the country’s power, according to BusinessGreen. That outranks coal and nuclear power and, according to the association, it’s enough to cover the electricity consumption of the majority of Spanish households.

Note: The above text has been corrected to reflect the correct units for the quantity of electricity produced in January, 2013. It is more than 6 terawatt-hours, not 6 terrawatts.

Discussion

3 comments for “Green Energy Milestone: Industry Says Wind is Spain’s Top Electricity Source”

  • Bill_Woods

    6 terawatts of electricity.”

    Arrgh. 6 terawatt-hours (TW-h), not 6 terawatts (TW). The former is a measure of energy, the latter is a measure of power.
    6 TW-h in 29 days is an average power of 0.01 TW.

    • http://twitter.com/bluepearmain Peter Thomson

       Good catch, Bill.  We’ve corrected the text.  Thx.

  • http://twitter.com/inimarine Minwoo Kim

    Obama’s energy policy is right. Japan’s FiT in July is among the highest in the world. Japan’s FiT is shaking the renewable energy market. New solutions will be showed in Japan. This is it! Floating wind turbine is one of the best solutions for USA and UK. UK has more install places around its shores than any other in the world. USA has Atlantic Coast. As you know, Every year Some typhoons arrive Japan. The typhoon has strong wind. Floating wind turbines must have constructed to resist typhoons. So they have to reduce vibration to install floating wind turbines on the sea. Because, it makes many kinds of problems! It’s increasing the durability problem of floating wind turbine. Vibration’s caused by wind, waves and external forces. New Floating Body Stabilizer for floating wind turbines has been created in South Korea. The Floating Body Stabilizers generate drag force immediately when floating wind turbines are being rolled, pitched and yawed on the water. Recently, this Floating Body Stabilizers have been used to reduce vibration of floating solar panels in South Korea. You can see New Floating Body Stabilizer videos in YouTube. http://youtu.be/O2oys_YHhCc, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA_xFp5ktbU&feature=youtu.be.