Wind power is breaking new records in Spain, accounting for just over 40 percent of all electricity consumed during a brief period last weekend. As heavy winds lashed Spain on Saturday evening wind parks generated 9,862 megawatts of power which translated to 40.8 percent of total consumption. Between Friday and Sunday wind power accounted for an average of 28 percent of all electricity demand in Spain. Spain’s wind power generation equaled that of hydropower for the first time in 2007.
In July the government approved legislation that will allow offshore wind parks to be set up along the nation’s vast coastline in an effort to boost the use of renewable energy sources. While more expensive than land-based wind farms, offshore wind parks can take advantage of stronger, steadier coastal breezes.
Spain, which along with Germany and Denmark, is among the three biggest producers of wind power in the 27-nation European Union, is aiming to triple the amount of energy it derives from renewable sources by 2020.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Dan Gill // Mar 31, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I think that’s incredible…it doesn’t have to be 40% all the time for it to be a huge victory for the viability of wind power. I’ve always been intrigued about the implications of taking energy out of nature (in this case the wind) and putting it into the grid, you know, “energy cannot be created or destroyed…only change forms” so is there potential for impacting the tides or anything for lack of energy in the wind or is the scale nowhere near having that impact? Just curious.
Anyway, I linked over to you from my forums - hope you don’t mind: http://greenhome.huddler.com/forum/thread/191/positive-uplifting-green-facts#link_post_513
2 curt // Apr 30, 2008 at 9:24 am
Truly wonderful Spanish achievement. US President and his government could be deeply ashamed.
I think, that the capacity of renewable energy sources is far to huge, that we could destroy the energy balance and flow in nature, as we had managed to achieve with chemical and other waste extensive pollution.
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