Wind Power in Spain

A Global Trend

The rapid growth in wind-generated power in Spain reflects a global trend. According to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), wind-power capacity has been increasing at least 20 percent each year between 2000 and 2005, and wind turbines today can produce 200 times more power than equivalent turbines two decades ago.

The wind-power sector is coming of age. Its energy is relatively cheap to produce, some of its technologies have matured—even though there are several breakthrough technologies being developed in Spain—and more countries and communities are turning to wind to reduce both their dependency on foreign fuel and their contribution to global warming. The GWEC expects the costs of power from wind to be competitive with those from conventional fuel within a decade.

In many areas, wind power is still more expensive than other conventional fuels, though costs have plummeted since the 1980s (when wind power was in its infancy). Today, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), in the windiest sites, wind power may sell for around 4 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour, which compares well with energy prices in new coal or gas-fired plants. Recent fluctuations in steel prices have kept wind power prices steady, rather than continuing this downward trend; but natural gas costs have risen in the same period, making wind increasingly attractive.

Today there are more than 50,000 megawatts of installed wind-power capacity around the world, up from only 17,000 megawatts a decade ago.

Surpassing Goals in Spain

The Spanish story reflects those dramatic changes. In 1999, the government set a goal for wind power at 9,000 megawatts of capacity by 2011. By midway through 2005, however, more than that amount of wind power had already fed into the Spanish grid, compared with only 800 megawatts in 1999-2000.

In response, in August 2005, the Spanish government once again reconsidered its goals. More ambitious numbers were needed to reflect the reality of the sector and to assure businesses that the government remained committed to this growth. As a result, a new goal of approximately 20,000 megawatts was set, a leap of almost 50 percent.

"I believe this is achievable for a very fundamental reason," said Garcia. "In Spain right now there is social and political consensus in favor of wind power. And that, together with the private-sector initiative, makes us very optimistic regarding the future of wind power."

Today, wind power fulfills about 6 percent of the country's electricity needs (in the United States, for instance, the AWEA's goal is to reach the 6 percent level by 2020). In Navarra, one of the autonomous regions that hosts a great deal of wind-power development, wind can fulfill nearly half of the region's power needs. "We're talking about a sector today that is one of the most dynamic parts of Spanish industry," said Garcia.