The president of Redeia, Beatriz Corredor, said Tuesday that there is “a change in the trend” in the electrical demand after years of falls, after the increase of 1.4% recorded in 2024, corrected of the calendar effect and temperatures.
During the presentation of the annual report of the Spanish electrical system at the headquarters of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, the former Socialist Minister has congratulated that “both in the industry and in the services and in other aggregate sectors the demand grows.”
However, consumption, 249 gigawatts (GW) in 2024, remains far from prepaandemics (in 2018 were 268 GW) and near minimums of the last 20 years. Its takeoff, supported by the electrification of the economy and new uses for the industry or data centers, is key to allowing to continue integrating renewables and guarantee its profitability. In February, the electrical demand registered a new decrease of 3.4% compared to the same month of the previous year, once the temperature and labor effects were discounted.
Corridor has celebrated that in 2024 the renewables reached “record figures at a complicated moment”, with 7.3 GW incorporated into the system, “as many as the seven nuclear centrals we have in Spain.” And on the 40th anniversary of the creation of Red Eléctrica, it has been congratulated that Spain has “the best electrical system in the world thanks to the best operator” and the one that “best integrates renewable” thanks to a pioneering control center.
In 2024, 66% of the power was already renewable, with Spain as the second country in the EU ranking, only behind Germany, with a growth of production with clean energy of 10.3% in one year, up to a new 56.8% record in the Mix, when in 1985 they were just 25%.
Spain is already three consecutive years exporting electricity, with more than 10 TWH of favorable balance in 2024 and 41 consecutive months of favorable balance.
Corridor recalled that last year the so -called spills (the renewable energy that is wasted because it has no place in the electrical system) were only 1.6%, despite the low interconnection with the EU, below 3%”when for five years it should be 10%.” Spain is “more island than Ireland”, where spills are around 4-5%. In the United Kingdom they are between 5% and 10%, has stressed.
Corridor has claimed that more storage be installed “to have a balanced system” and that “accompanied” the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) is “accompanied”. For now there are 8 GW already operating and, according to the president of Redeia, we are “very well directed” to meet the 22.5 GW that is expected by 2030. It is necessary “that unfolds in an important way,” said Concha Sánchez, general director of Operation of Electric Red.
The President of Redeia has indicated that for this year “there are many uncertainties”, with the electrical planning whose ultimate ecological transition, “determinant” to achieve the PNIEC objectives, and the new regulatory period that the regulator must set (at present, the CNMC).
During the presentation of the report, Miguel Duvisón, former General Director of Operation of Ree, recalled that 40 years ago the electrical system was fragmented and was “weak”, and it was decided to create ree by decree with “country vision” to operate the system seeking “the common good” and respecting the rights of existing companies.
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