Spanish photovoltaics "makes a killing" in March with a new generation record.

March is confirmed as the month with the highest participation of Spanish photovoltaic energy in electricity production, according to Red Eléctrica Española

In the midst of the health crisis due to the infamous Covid-19, positive or hopeful news is conspicuous by its absence. But not everything is negative in these times, and renewable energy brings us some hopeful data in terms of energy during the month of March. According to Red Eléctrica Española, last month was the month with the highest participation of Spanish photovoltaic energy in the energy mix, contributing 4.1% of the country’s electricity production.

Although this figure may seem minor out of context, this represents an increase of 0.6 percentage points compared to the average figure for Spanish photovoltaics during 2019, which contributed 3.5% of production to the state electricity system. In addition, it should be noted that this data occurs in the month of March, which, along with January and February, represents the period of greatest shortage of daylight hours.

These data are supported by the fact that 2019 was the most important year in the history of Spanish photovoltaics, practically doubling the installed capacity by adding 4.1 GW to the 8.8 GW that this type of electricity generation is capable of generating today in the Iberian country. Put into context, this means that 8% of all electricity produced in Spain comes from solar energy.

How much solar energy was produced in March in Spain?

According to information provided by Red Electrica Española, solar photovoltaic energy was the source of generation of 1,049 GWh of electricity, which represents a 29.1% increase compared to the same figure from the previous year. A notable fact is that on March 26, 2020 at 1:02 p.m., solar energy generated 6,337 MW in the peninsular electricity system, 7.4% higher than the previous maximum recorded on February 26 at 2:29 p.m.

In addition to this, on March 29, 2020 at 12:09 p.m., a quarter of the GWh generated in the peninsular electricity system originated from the sun’s rays. Specifically, the instantaneous power amounted to 6,095 MW and represented 25.6% of the entire peninsular electricity generation mix.

These data lead us to believe that 2020 could be a record year in terms of solar energy generation in Spain, confirming the trend of an increasing presence of renewables in general, and photovoltaics in particular, in the country’s energy mix.

2020 a sunny year for photovoltaic energy

In addition to these figures for increased electricity generation, according to reports such as IHS Markit, the installation of up to 142 GW of photovoltaic energy was expected this year. This is a significant figure considering that in 2010, 20,000 megawatts of this type of energy were installed worldwide.

Continuing with this comparison of the last decade, in 2010 only seven countries, most of them in Europe, which had more than a thousand megawatts installed. The panorama has changed so much in just ten years that 2020 will close with 43 states that will exceed the installation of a thousand megawatts, with China being the undisputed leader, although its influence will gradually decline in favor of new players, especially in Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, over the years.