Too much of a good thing? Spain's green energy can exceed demand

The patchwork plains of Castilla-La Mancha, in central Spain, were once known for their windmills.

But now it is wind turbines, their modern-day equivalent, which are much more visible on the region’s skyline.

The 28 vast turbines of the Sierra del Romeral windfarm, perched on hills not far from the historic city of Toledo, look out over this landscape.

Operated by Spanish firm Iberdrola, they are part of a trend that has accelerated Spain’s renewable energy output over the past half-decade, making the country a major presence in the industry.

Spain’s total wind generation capacity, its prime renewable source in recent years, has doubled since 2008. Solar energy capacity, meanwhile, has increased by a factor of eight over the same period.

This makes Spain the EU member state with the second-largest renewable energy infrastructure, after Sweden in first place.

Earlier this year, Spain's Socialist Workers' Party prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, described his country as "a driving force of the energy transition on a global scale".

The boom began soon after the arrival of a new government under Mr Sánchez in 2018, with the removal of regulatory obstacles, and the introduction of subsidies for renewable installation. The pandemic further accelerated the trend on a domestic level.

"The impact of Covid was very positive for our sector," says José Donoso, chief executive of UNEF, the Spanish Photovoltaic Association, which represents the solar panel sector. "People saved money, took time to think about what to do with it, and many of them decided that it was better invested on their roof than in their bank."

Meanwhile, the government introduced ambitious new targets, including covering 81% of Spain’s electricity needs with renewables by 2030.

However, behind this success story, there are concerns within the electricity industry caused by an imbalance between supply and demand with, at times, a surplus of electricity.

Even though the Spanish economy has bounced back strongly from the trauma of the Covid pandemic, and is growing faster than all of the bloc’s other big economies, electricity consumption has been dropping in recent years.

Last year, demand for electricity was even below that seen in the pandemic year 2020, and the lowest since 2003.

"What we saw until 2005 was that when GDP increased, demand for electricity increased more than GDP," says Miguel de la Torre RodrÃ[at]guez, head of system development at Red Eléctrica (REE), the company that operates Spain's national grid.

More recently, he says, "we've seen that demand has increased less than GDP. What we're seeing is a decoupling of energy intensity from the economy".

There are several reasons for the recent drop in demand. They include the energy crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which caused businesses and homes across Europe to cut back on usage.

Also, energy efficiency has improved and become more commonplace.

The increased usage of renewable energy has also contributed to the reduction in demand for electricity from the national grid.

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PS300m energy storage plant to create 700 jobs

Work has begun on a £300m energy plant which will store surplus electricity from wind and solar farms in the form of liquid air.

The facility at Carrington near Manchester, designed by Highview Power, will create more than 700 jobs in the north-west of England, the firm said.

The energy stored at the site, which is expected to be operational by 2026, will then be put back into the grid at times of high demand.

Highview Power's co-founder Richard Butland said this kind of long-term clean energy storage was "huge for Britain and huge globally".

The facility has been described as the UK's first commercial scale liquid air energy storage plant, and could have the capacity to power 480,000 homes.

Energy compressed into air, liquified and then cryogenically frozen can be held at the plant for several weeks, which is longer than battery storage.

"Done at large-scale makes this cost effective", Mr Butland told BBC Radio Manchester.

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Tesla Battery Storage System to be Installed by Orsted at UK Wind Farm

Ørsted has taken the final investment decision on a battery energy storage system which will be one of the largest so far deployed in Europe. It will be associated with the Hornsea 3 project which with an expected capacity of 2.9 GW is billed as the world’s single largest offshore wind farm.

The Tesla battery energy storage system will be installed on the same site as the onshore converter station for Ørsted’s Hornsea 3 Offshore Wind Farm in Swardeston, near Norwich, Norfolk, in the eastern part of England. According to the company, it will provide stability to the UK energy supply and reduce price volatility.

“The battery will help ensure that renewable energy is used in the best possible way by storing it when demand is lower and then releasing it back into the system when it’s really needed, thereby maximizing the potential of renewable energy whilst providing increased energy security and value to consumers,” said Duncan Clark, Head of UK & Ireland for Ørsted.

The storage system will have a capacity of 600 MWh (and a 300 MW power rating), equivalent to the daily energy use of 80,000 UK homes. When it is windy and sunny, so that electricity generation exceeds demand, the battery will store the excess so it can be discharged later to help balance the grid. The system is designed to reduce price volatility for consumers as it will make more power available, including during peak periods, when energy is traditionally more expensive. It will also result in UK energy systems being easier to manage by helping smooth out the variations between supply and demand.

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Octopus stretches out into UK renewables with 500MW of solar-plus-storage build plan

Clean-energy investor Octopus Renewables will team up developer Gridsource to pursue construction of as much as 500MW of new PV and battery storage projects in the UK in the next five years.

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The partnership has earmarked £250m ($335m) to build these projects, which will be managed day-to-day by Gridsource and added to Octopus Renewables' currently 1.2GW solar portfolio, claimed to be the largest PV investment asset base in Europe.

“UK solar and battery capacity are key assets to bolster in the move to a decentralised, green grid. We expect that this partnership will allow our funds to invest… into these projects around the UK to bring even more renewable energy projects online and speed up the transition to a clean-energy future,” said Peter Dias, investment director at Octopus Renewables.

Gridsource development director Steven Gay said: “Solar and battery storage developments play a pivotal role in the transition to a clean energy system. We’re delighted to be partnering with Octopus Renewables and excited to be part of the transition towards net zero.”