Spanish solar has accelerated in the last five years, climbing four positions in the national ranking of installed capacity by adding more than 12,400 MW of new renewable energy

The sun shines brighter than ever for Spanish solar energy. This is evident from the data recently published by Red Eléctrica de España (REE), which clearly demonstrates a growth trend in solar energy in Spain. While this situation could have been predicted given the numerous projects developed and in the pipeline that have accumulated in recent times, it is now confirmed by the data. Thus, over the last five years, 12,400 MW of new installed solar energy capacity have been deployed in the country, surpassing the current installed total of 17 GW. However, solar energy remains the third source of generation, surpassing hydroelectric power.

Furthermore, according to data available up to September and published by the REE itself, the effects of this increase in installed power driven by the ecological transition have resulted in 2022 being the year with the highest electricity production in history, exceeding 22,200 GWh. A record that is also added to the fact that 11% of the electricity generated in the country so far this year is of solar origin, integrating 6% more GWh into the grid than in the whole of 2021.

This positive trend was especially evident during the month of May, when solar photovoltaic generated a record at the peninsular level by covering more than half of the instantaneous electricity demand – specifically 54.3% of the total – on May 1 at 3:41 p.m. On the other hand, on May 26, the highest photovoltaic generation in our country was also recorded, also becoming the day with the highest amount of watts generated nationwide, reaching 153 GWh – 20% of the total energy generated on that day.

Spanish solar: chaining records year after year

If this were not enough, this 2022 comes after a 2021 in which the installed photovoltaic power in the country increased by 28.8%, incorporating more than 3.3 GW to the national generation park, while the generation of electrical energy produced by this type of technology soared by an impressive 36.7%. A news that sheds a lot of light on the decarbonization and energy transition process in the Iberian country.

This information, published in the “Advance of the Spanish electricity system report 2021”, a document that Red Eléctrica de España publishes annually with the main figures of the Spanish sector, advances that renewables reach a share close to 47% and produce, thanks to the contribution of solar photovoltaic in Spain, 10% more than in 2020.; reducing CO2 equivalent emissions associated with electricity production to the lowest value nationwide since records began.

Owner/Source: Red Eléctrica de España

In 2021, renewable technologies continued their growth in the country’s generating park: at the end of the year, they represented 56.6% of the national production capacity (112,846 MW). In total, the national electricity system has added more than 4,000 new renewable MW this past year, reaching 63,896 MW of green capacity. Thus, one in every four megawatts installed in Spain is from wind generation, a technology that has increased its presence by 2.5% compared to 2020 and which as of December 31 already had 28,175 MW in operation. For its part, photovoltaics is the one that has experienced the greatest increase – as indicated above – 28.8% more than in 2020, reaching 15,048 MW.