THE WIND IN SPAIN

Spain’s progress in renewable energy:

Spain bets on fair winds for energy lift
Agence France-Presse, July 23, 2006 (International Herald Tribune & Tapei Times)
- Spain is in the European Union vanguard as the Union targets renewables for a 20 percent share of overall energy production by 2010…
- Wind farms are a major part of the Spanish strategy, and the share of overall wind farm production is set to double to 12 percent over the next four years, giving some 20,000 megawatts of installed capacity…enough electricity for 240-300 homes…

- Spain, where the energy market was deregulated in 1998, is second only to Germany and just ahead of the United States in terms of installed wind power capacity, at 8,155 megawatts in December 2004…
- Solar power is also on the rise, with the Spanish photovoltaic association, ASIF, forecasting growth of as much as 1,100 megawatts by 2010, exceeding government forecasts…The first polysilicon solar panel plant in Spain came on stream last month…Iberdrola, the second-biggest Spanish electricity producer, said Thursday that a surge in its renewable energy business had helped lift first-half net profit by 25 percent to €818 million, or $1.04 billion…
- Regarding nuclear power, Spain has nine plants in operation that account for 23 percent of all energy production, a level comparable with the United States and Britain but far behind France's 78 percent.
- In a world which uses more than 300 billion kilowatt-hours of energy a day and rising, the rush to renewables shows no sign of abating…