Spain Becomes First Country To Rely On Wind As Top Energy Source

AlJazeera America

Spain is the first country in the world to draw a plurality of its power from wind energy for an entire year, according to new reports by the country’s energy regulator and wind energy advocacy group Spanish Wind Energy Association (AEE).

Wind accounted for 20.9 percent of the country’s energy last year — more than any other enough to power about 15.5 million households, with nuclear coming in a very close second at 20.8 percent. Wind energy usage was up over 13 percent from the year before, according to the report.

The news is being hailed by environmental advocates as a sign that Spain, and perhaps the rest of the world, is ready for a future based on renewables. But the record comes at the end of a very rocky year for Spain’s renewable energy sector, which was destabilized by subsidy cutbacks and arguments over how much the government should regulate renewable energy companies.

Well, the world certainly isn't going to transition to renewables without some incredible temper tantrums but overall I think this is a good sign and something that people should be talking about. The main problem with renewables is loss of profit that will dynamically change the world economy.

Fossil fuels is the primary driving force of the world economy, abandoning such isn't going to be smooth. On the other hand it's important to note what fossil fuels cost us. War and global warming being chief among the costs but the other is that every oil and gas company is heavily subsidized by governments over the world. Also... jobs. Renewables will not employ even a fraction of people that fossil fuels do but personally I think that vacuums tend to be filled, especially in a world unburdened of energy costs. The cost of living would go down dramatically, more people might be freed up to pursue careers that they actually want as opposed to careers that they need to pay the bills with.

The major drawback to wind power, is our winged friends... birds, bats, insects getting killed by the extreme low pressure that exists behind these massive turbines. Of course this is overdramatized by fossil fuel shills and the people that buy their nonsense but nevertheless is a problem and one I hope a solution for is found soon.

Overall I think the top problem with renewables is this... we keep waiting for governments to invest more heavily. Why? Why are we waiting for the slowest solution? There's a growing divestment from fossil fuels movement, why don't we spread the word about it and encourage we, the private citizens, to invest in renewables ourselves?

Spain shows us that it can be done. Their methodology leaves much to be desired. We can use what didn't work for them to grow from.

Great post and great news. If we don't transition to sustainable economies soon we are going to have severe problems.

While Spain enjoys the benefits of wind power they can also enjoy a reduced bird population.

What Is American Bird Conservancy’s (ABC) policy regarding wind energy? Wind power can be an important part of the solution to global warming, but wind farms can also kill birds—including eagles, songbirds, and endangered species—through collisions with turbines, and also harm them through loss of habitat. By 2030, there will likely be more than 100,000 wind turbines in the U.S., and these are expected to kill at least one million birds each year—probably significantly more. Wind farms are also expected to impact almost 20,000 square miles of terrestrial habitat, and over 4,000 square miles of marine habitat by 2030, some of it critical to threatened species.

Link to story

Going into 2014, it’s unclear how wind will survive steep government cutbacks.

At the moment, Spain heavily subsidizes its renewable energy sector, which costs billions of dollars in a country still in the depths of a financial crisis. When the country tried to raise individual rates for renewables, people complained bitterly and the government backed off, leaving the country with a nearly $35 billion renewable energy deficit.

Spain also enjoys a massive debt problem.

$35 billion deficit from "renewable" energy.

I wonder if the profiteers use bicycles to get to the bank deposit windows every day?

Blue Ribbons are made of silk.

reply to post by Mamatus


As I said in the OP. The death rate of flying creatures needs a solution. However compared to the environmental disasters that oil, fracking and nuclear cause? The death rate is much higher. It's a horrible, extremely weak and low brain power argument to make.

reply to post by xuenchen


They've gone about it wrong, doesn't make the idea bad.

Wind energy is actually relatively cheap.


www.eia.gov...

Here in Portugal I get a list of energy sources (from 2012) in my electricity bill.
It says:

Energy sources
Nuclear - 4.00%
Natural gas - 8.00%
Hydro - 9.00%
Other non-renewable sources - 11.00%
Other renewable sources - 11.00%
Coal - 13.00%
Wind - 44.00%

Portugal does not produce all of the electricity it uses (that's why there's 4% from nuclear sources when we have no nuclear electricity production), so some of that wind-produced electricity may have come from Spain.

reply to post by ArMaP


I know a few years back Portugal was on the brink of collapse. How much of that had to do with energy and is your country's energy strategy any different now than it was then? Has there been any recovery?

reply to post by Kali74


There's a little recovering, but the biggest change in the energy situation was the selling of part (I think) of the national electricity production company, that was bought by a Chinese company. The energy sources have been changing slowly, first from a mostly hydro production system in the 60s and 70s, to a coal production, now to a natural gas, wind and solar sources.

As we have to import the oil and coal for the power production, investing in alternative ways is an obvious choice.

reply to post by Kali74


Do you want to see a country that gets most of its electric from renewable's?

Pura Vida

Source
# of Plants
Percentage of Consumed Electricity (2009)
Hydroelectric 13 78.22%
Geothermal 1 12.84%
Thermoelectric 5 4.89%
Wind Power 1 3.53%
Biomass not available 0.52%
- See more at: costarica.com...

They are pretty damn proud of it as well. Like everyone they complain when the bill comes.lol