The decarbonization of Spanish electricity accelerates after another record low for coal in May.

May was the worst year for coal in terms of its contribution to the Spanish electricity system, having represented only 1.4% of the total mix, accelerating the decarbonisation of electricity.

The decarbonisation of the Spanish electricity system, the basis of a sustainable model for the country, took another step forward during the month of May, setting a new historic low in the contribution of coal-generated electricity to the country’s electricity mix. According to Red Eléctrica de España, coal represented only 1.4% of the total electricity generated during the fifth month of the year, with a contribution of 242 GWh to the total, the lowest since this type of record has been kept (2007). It was precisely that year when, in the same month of May, this technology produced 6,220 GWh and accounted for 27% of the total generation for that month in Spain.

REE states, in the note published on its website, that this year 2020 has been key in terms of the reduction of coal technology as a source of electricity generation. Something that joins the challenges of decarbonizing the economy set by the European Union in order to reduce CO2 emissions, and that is that the combustion of coal to produce electricity is one of the most polluting technologies, something that penalizes compared to renewables, which already reach 52.4% of Spain’s electricity production during the month of May 2020.

The lower costs of renewables, due to their operation thanks to environmental elements, make those technologies dependent on the extraction of fuels, such as coal, more expensive. Something that adds to the investment requirements in equipment for purifying polluting gases, regulations that the European Commission applies to large combustion facilities. All this cocktail results in the auctions of CO_{2 emission rights having quadrupled since 2013, when they closed with an average of 4.38 euros/tCO2 on average, compared to the 21.69 euros for each tonne of carbon emitted in the first months of 2020.}