70% Of Navarra's Power Comes From Wind, Solar
by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 03.22.07
The region of Navarra, in Northeastern Spain, better known in the U.S. for the “running of the bulls” in Pamplona. But in this region, approximately 70% of the electricity comes from the wind and the sun. With no coal, oil or gas of its own, this mountainous region deliberately went for renewable energy in the late 1980s. The first wind farm was built in full view of the regional capital Pamplona, so that people could get used to it. Now, with some 1,100 windmills dotted all over Navarra, this tiny region is capable of generating more electricity from renewable sources than big EU countries like France or Poland. Navarra plans to reach 100% renewable energy generation by 2010.
Quoting Oana Lungescu (BBC News): “In a growing trend in Spain, the solar park is a co-operative, with 750 individual owners. The cost of a panel starts at 50,000 euros, but with a tax break from the regional government and a guaranteed annual income there is a long waiting list of willing buyers”.
See a video clip of this story here.
See also: Wind Power Is Spain's Top Energy Source This Week
:: Via: BBC News
I'm curious to know how they deal with the variability. Do they have backup power that only gets fired up when there's no wind (if they're in a windy area, that could be only a few days a year)? Do they have ways to stock electricity (f.ex., hydro power that gets turned off when there's lots of wind, so it stocks up on water)? Did they build over-capacity so as to have enough on average, and when there's more they can export it?
Navarra isn't an isolated region, so it draws from the national grid of Spain (and Europe) when needed.
I found this press note (pdf in spanish) about wind energy in Spain stating the production in each region, it's from January 2007.
Is this 70% of all energy consumed? The remaining 30%, as well as their needs when solar and wind power slows down, comes from the rest of the Spanish energy production, which is mostly coal and nuclear, or from imports from France, again mostly nuclear. The increase in wind and solar production is Spain has not meant a significant decrease in coal or nuclear power, simply an increase in overall production.
That solar park might be a co-op, but that is definitely not the trend in Spain, where windmills are mostly owned by the big energy companies.
i n other countries batteries back use is common: here the Australian gov. site lists batteries that store energy for a couple of days for cloudy weather or windless
"Battery banks can be designed to provide many days
energy requirement with no input from the charging source."
http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/yourhome/technical/fs410.htm
I expect during long spells of no wind they buy energy from some other grid. Pretty common in europe. However, I expect that the wind blows almost constantly in that area (think "Windmills! Charge!)
"The increase in wind and solar production is Spain has not meant a significant decrease in coal or nuclear power, simply an increase in overall production."
That is interesting. It follows the trend in most developed countries ie. energy demand is constantly growing.
So what do the people of this region do when they reach the limits of what they are generating? Tighten their belts, and cap their energy usage...or build more windmills??
Better more wind turbines than coal plants..
I find this very interesting and cool. Costa Rica, a middle-income country, is 90% renewable energy. The bulk of it is hydro, yet there are significant parts of it that are geothermal and wind. Would be interesting if you ran something on Costa Rica as well. Cheers!