Spain - Wind power sets new records

Spain's booming wind parks have set new records for power and electricity generation, a national grid operator REE said on Friday.

REE said power output peaked on Thursday evening at 11,175 megawatts, beating a previous maximum of 10,880 MW set on April 18 last year.

Wind generators also set a record of 234,059 megawatt-hours for the amount of electricity produced in a day, which was enough to meet 26 percent of demand. The previous maximum of 213,169 MWh was also tallied on April 18, 2008.

Spain's government has encouraged the development of renewable energy in recent years to cut greenhouse emissions -- which are far above levels permitted by the Kyoto protocol -- and reduce its heavy dependence on imported fuel.

Industry group AEE estimates that wind power, on average, is sold on to the wholesale pool market at a discount of 6 euros/MWh to power generated from fossil fuels. AEE says this more than offsets the cost of government subsidies.

The day-ahead pool price fell to an unusually low 37.94 euros ($49.15)/MWh when it was last fixed on Friday morning.

Wind parks in Spain have the capacity to produce about 16,000 MW and the government forecasts that 20,000 will be installed by 2010. AEE has said the total could rise to 40,000 MW by 2020.

In comparison, Spain's ageing nuclear power plants have an installed capacity of 7,800 MW and produce a constant 7,300 MW when working normally.

For more information, please contact Trevor Sievert at ts@windfair.net