Wind Power in Spain

Wind Power Is an Economic Winner in Spain

One reason Spain stands out from other European leaders in wind power, according to Corin Millais, head of the European Wind Energy Association, is that environmental issues have not been the major driving force behind this expansion.

"It's much more a story about regional growth, economic deployment, driving an economy that requires increasing amounts of energy," said Millais. "There's more of a fundamental value of wind power to an economy in Spain than in northern Europe."

And the figures in Spain support this claim. When the first renewable energy plan was enacted in the late 1990s, energy demand was predicted to increase by 1.2 percent per year. Instead, demand has grown by around 3 to 4 percent. In addition, wind power has grown much more rapidly than expected, with installed capacity increasing by about 30 percent per year. Currently, the government estimates that 300 to 400 Spanish companies are involved in wind power, supporting about 30,000 jobs, with that number expected to double by 2010. This healthy job growth experienced as well in other industries has been crucial: a decade ago, the unemployment rate in Spain was more than 20 percent; it has since fallen to 8.5 percent in 2005.

In addition to economic and technological development, wind power in Spain has transformed the countryside. All along northern Spain's famous Camino de Santiago (St. James' Way), an ancient Christian pilgrimage route through the Pyrenees, plains, and along the coastline, ending at the burial site of the martyr St. James in Santiago, pilgrims travel past modern-day windmills. But the transformation has been more than visual, for the income that wind farms bring to poorer rural areas has literally saved some communities.

The goals of the Spanish government in promoting wind are twofold. First, to reduce dependency on imported oil. "In relation to other countries in the OECD and the European Union, Spain is much more dependent on foreign oil," said Javier Garcia Breva, until fall 2005 director general of the Spanish Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), part of the Spanish government. "The country is very vulnerable to variations in the oil market. So, at the first analysis, the renewable energy plan has focused on increasing energy independence in Spain."

The second goal, according to Garcia, is equally important: reducing carbon dioxide emissions in line with the goals of the European Union. According to IDAE figures, if Spain meets its goal of generating 30 percent of its electricity needs from renewable power by 2010, with half of that amount coming from wind power, it will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 77 million tons.