Weak year for Spanish wind
In 2011, installations of wind turbines fell by a third year-over-year, and the country fell roughly 10 percent short of what should have been possible.
"According to the official registry of renewable energy projects in Spain, 1,643 megawatts of wind power should have gone online in 2011, but infrastructure and administrative problems caused delays, as did grid connections," explains Mar Morante of Spanish wind energy association AEE. The organization's spokesperson, she says that political and legal issues kept wind power far below expectations, which were already low for 2011. Spain was once a leading European country in terms of new installations, but only 1,050 megawatts was installed in 2011, around a third less than in 2010. At present, 1,903 megawatts is in the pipeline.
At the end of January, Spain's new conservative government imposed a moratorium on feed-in tariffs for new systems. It is still unclear whether the moratorium affects systems currently under construction. Morante says the industry now wants to sit down with the government to make it clear how important the sector is for Spain's economy. "We understand that the current economic situation requires sacrifice, and we are willing to make it. But the sacrifices should not hit an industry so hard that is this mature and internationally competitive." Morante says a solution has to be found that does not endanger the 30,000 jobs in the sector. Turbine manufacturers say that only around 10 percent of the units made in Spain by such firms as Gamesa, Acciona and Alstom are intended for the domestic market.
In mid-2009, Spain launched a registry to bundle – and limit – the generation of renewable energy. To be eligible for feed-in tariffs, wind farms have to be entered in the registry. At the end of this year, the registry is to be done away with. Another problem is that Spanish feed-in tariffs are not completely passed on to ratepayers, but partly covered by tax money, which has affected the government's budget. (Regine Krüger / Craig Morris)
