Spain has increased its wind power capacity by 1720MW in 2020, bringing the country’s total up to 27,446MW of installed turbines, according to new figures from wind industry association AEE.
This compares to 2243MW in 2019 and 393MW the year before.
Overall, wind produced 21.9% of the electricity consumed in 2020, making it the second technology of the energy mix by contribution to demand coverage and the first by installed power.
In relation to the contribution of renewable technologies, AEE found wind has contributed 49.7% of the total, being the first renewables technology, followed by hydro (27.7%) and solar (13.8%).
Spain now ranks second in Europe by installed wind power after Germany.
In 2020, Spain was the fourth european country to have installed the most wind power.
During 2020, the autonomous communities that have installed the most wind farms were Aragon (1050.87MW), followed by Navarra (262.58MW) and Castilla y León.
Aragon has installed more than 1GW of new power in 2020 for the second year in a row due to its Government’s policies favouring investment in wind energy.
In Spain there are a total of 1267 wind farms, with 21,431 wind turbines installed.
Siemens Gamesa, Vestas, GE, Nordex-Acciona WindPower and Enercon installed the most turbines in 2020.
Repsol Renovables, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), Iberdrola, Enel Green Power / Endesa and Naturgy were responsible for the most MW installed during the year.
Wind Business Association chief executive Juan Virgilio Márquez said: “2020 has been a positive year in which wind has recovered an annual rate of installation of new power comparable to that experienced in the best years of sector, when it was possible to move forward linearly, year by year, tracing the entire value chain in our country.
“The challenge in this new decade is to achieve the installation of 2.2GW per year on average, on a sustained basis over time, in order to reach the 50.3GW included in the PNIEC.
“If the right mechanisms and strategies are established, we will be able, in addition to meeting the power objectives, to sustain and even strengthen the manufacturing chain located in Spain.”