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Its n wonder with over 300 days of sunshine a year
that massive investment in renewable energy is coming again
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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 17th 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.
