How Spain Lead in Weather, Energy, and Employment This Summer

How Spain Lead in Weather, Energy, and Employment This Summer

August in Edinburgh is a time for comedy and performance arts on the chilly streets during the Fringe Festival. In France it means that it’s almost impossible to reach anyone in any office as the whole country seems to flock to the campsites across the southern reaches of the country. For the British and the Germans it means getting away from the unpredictability of their own weather and heading to the warmer climates of Spain.

All of this seems to go down like clockwork each year, but Spain has a few tricks ready to make sure this year is even more impressive.

The first of these is pretty obvious, as the mercury could reach beyond 40C for holidaymakers relaxing on the Spanish shoreline. Some places, such as the inland regions to the south, could experience temperatures all the way up to 45C.

This is the kind of heat that – while not the highest it’s ever been – is still well above average. The temperatures could also mean that Spain is currently the hottest country in Europe; which would be quite the accolade given the heatwaves affecting much of the southeast of Europe.

There’s more than just this however. Spain isn’t content with topping the charts for just the temperature; posting a drop in unemployment for the sixth month in a row. This means the country has seen a much more sustainable rate of recovery for employment than any other European country.

Spain still isn’t finished. This week it was revealed that Spain will be closing its oldest nuclear power plant as there isn’t enough support from local people and politicians to keep it open. The Santa Maria de Garona plant to the north of Spain hasn’t been active since 2013, and is now set to close officially as Spain embraces renewable energy sources; primarily solar power and wind power.

These three things might sound disconnected, and they are in some ways. Even so, they show the bigger picture of a country that is confident, growing, popular, and making all the right choices for keeping things healthy in the long term.

Spain to Attract Massive Investment in Renewable Energy

Spain to Attract Massive Investment in Renewable Energy

Its n wonder with over 300 days of sunshine a year

that massive investment in renewable energy is coming again

The Spanish government hardly has the best record when it comes to supporting renewable energy. While the country has some of the highest levels of solar and wind power installed in Europe, most of these were installed before 2010; before the current Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy assumed power.

The People’s Party that Rajoy leads aren’t against the idea of clean energy. The problem is that the incentives the previous government put into place for solar power were too generous; it was impossible for the government to continue justifying them.

There was a time when Spanish home-and-business-owners who installed solar panels – or even power plant operators with solar farms – were rewarded. They were offered a good feed-in tariff that saw them get some euros in return for the kilowatts of electricity their solar solutions pumped into the national grid.

It was decided in 2011 that the scheme had become perhaps too popular, with over 8 gigawatts of solar power generated by that point. It was taking too much money out of the government, especially given the economic troubles and recession at the time.

Move forward to 2017 – and the introduction of the “Solar Tax” as it was affectionately known – and Spain is ready to become clean once again. There’s plenty of good reason why too. The southern end of Spain is one of the windiest regions in Europe, as you likely know if you’ve tried to sit at the beachside bars in Cádiz. Wind power – whether onshore or offshore – is an affordable and viable source of energy for Spain.

Add in that almost the entire country ranks in the top regions of Europe with the most sunlight and it becomes clear that Spain should become a solar power hotbed again.

This idea stands to become reality on the 17^th of May, as the Ministry of Energy, Tourism, and Digital Agenda of Spain will hold a renewable energy auction for three gigawatts of clean power. This basically means that companies interested in creating a solar or wind farm will be able to “bid” for large capacities. The winning bidder will be the one who offers the most competitive price for power per megawatt-hour, and will be chosen by the Spanish Electricity Market Operator (OMIE).

It’s expected that the auction will generate plenty of interest from companies; both Spanish and international. Firms from across Germany, China, South America, and the USA are expected to join all the Spanish companies trying to land contracts.

By this time next year, there will be far more wind and solar power available in Spain, built for less than the cost of coal power. This will translate into reduced bills for average consumers, and it also means that Spain will have cleaner energy and a more secure energy future.

Victory for Clean Energy Advocates As Fracking Firms Abandon Spain

Victory for Clean Energy Advocates As Fracking Firms Abandon Spain

Clearly the people of Spain don't want fracking

Spain has been getting a bit of a bad rep lately as far as energy policy goes. Things went downhill when the country decided to “tax thesun” after a particularly generous support scheme for solar power several years ago that saw many homeowners happily install solar panels to receive a feed-in tariff (FIT) from the government.

The government thought it would be good to rein in their financial support of solar power, and now man homeowners with solar panels are in a position where they have to pay a “solar tax” to feed their solar power back into the national grid.

It’s obvious this wasn’t the intended outcome. Spain has a lot of large solar farms, and plenty of windfarms, but it takes more than just renewable energy to support a country the size of Spain right now, which is where fracking comes in.

Fracking is a controversial technique where natural gas is extracted from deep underground, and it’s dramatically transformed the energy sector of the USA, enabling the country to reduce its dependence on oil from Africa and the Middle East. Now the USA can even export their excess energy themselves.

It was hoped that Spain would be able to get on the fracking bandwagon. Fracking companies estimated there was some €700 billion euros in natural gas sitting under Spain that would only be accessible through hydraulic fractured drilling; a process where water, sand, and chemicals are injected into rock buried deep underground at high pressure, with gas extracted through a pipe.

Fracking is a controversial process, with many people living close to fracking sites reporting earthquakes, polluted water, and even fires. That is why there was such a strong opposition to the practice in Spain.

Even so, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy passed a law that allowed for fracking during his previous term, and explorations have already begun by five of the leading fracking teams in the US.

Given the nature of Spain though, it was only natural the natives would continue to be restless about the issue. As soon as a company headed out to a site, they would find themselves greeted by resistance from energy and environmental groups, seeking to block racking as much as possible.

These groups – such as Heyco, BNK, R2 Energy, SHESA, and San Leon – are celebrating this week following the announcement that all the fracking firms that entered Spain have now left the country behind.

This means that the energy future of Spain needs to be considered once again, but now maybe Prime Minister Rajoy will think again about using renewable energy, what with the natural gas stuck in the ground for the foreseeable future.