Wind Power in Spain

Spain has created some of the world leaders in this industry. In the early 1980s, turbine manufacturer Ecotecnia was one of the first companies to install a wind-power generator in Spain. The company began in the renewable energies sector, then focused on wind generation when Director Antoni Martinez decided to follow the examples of Denmark and California.

According to Martinez, interest and business in wind-power began to pick up in 1992 and took off in 1997, when the Spanish government instituted a new electricity act. With the act, the government set a fixed premium every year according to the baseline cost of power from electric utilities, with a premium to ensure profitability for wind farms. In addition, utilities are obligated to buy any wind power produced and integrate it into the national grid.

Ecotecnia is still a major player in the Spanish wind-power market, selling turbines in Spain and around the world. What's more, the market has expanded to create international powerhouses like Gamesa Eólica, major national energy companies such as Iberdrola, and Acciona Energía, the renewable energies subsidiary of the Acciona Group, a major Spanish business group with thousands of employees.

Iberdrola set up its first wind farm in 2000; already by 2005, it had become the largest owner of wind farms in the world.

Meanwhile, Acciona Energía is the largest wind-park constructor and developer in the world. The company credits its success to its beginnings in the region of Navarra in 1994. "We were pioneers with a plan of implementing wind power in Navarra when wind wasn't yet looked on as an important economic sector," said the company's director of marketing, Jose Arrieta.

"This is giving real corporate credence to the industry. It's bringing in capital and financial sophistication," said Godfrey Chua, principal analyst of Emerging Energy Research, an independent organization that provides market research about wind power. "It's also bringing a level of scale to the industry that it has never seen before."

Most helpful in Spain, according to companies and the government, has been the stable environment created by government laws first passed in 1997 and updated as needed. The Spanish government sets the cost of wind power each year, based on the costs of power from conventional sources, with an added premium for wind to ensure a return on their investment.

Wind-power operators have two options: to sell electricity at a fixed rate that includes a tariff, or to sell freely in the market and receive a special premium on top of the market price. Each year, this premium is adjusted appropriately.