Other renewables

Electric vehicles in 2020 will consume 1% of electricity demand in Spain

The document has been prepared in accordance with the Law of Sustainable Economy and delivered to the energy sector for submission of claims before making it final and binding document. The calculation of consumption of this electric car fleet by 2020 is made on an estimated total of vehicles in Spain of 25 million, of which 10 percent would be electric cars (0.5 million) or plug-in hybrids (2 million).

Taking into account various parameters on electricity demand, the document states that would not need additional firm capacity currently planned until 2019, although in 2020 an additional 1,800 megawatts would be required, albeit for a very limited number of hours.

The paper estimates that Spain will continue to increase slightly the number of cars (currently 22 million cars), reaching values ​​for the population similar to those of higher income European countries. Road transport remains the major mode of transport growth, followed by air.

In the scenario of the decade, the specific consumption of new cars continue to decline as a result of technological improvements, partly forced by European demands for environmental protection, but it also reduces the enhancement of alternative modes of transport to private vehicles to absorb the demand for mobility.

With these data, the power consumption associated with electric and hybrid vehicle would replace about 1.2 million toe (tons oil equivalent) of petroleum products. The document establishes an allowance in the consumption of biofuels, which will reach 2,713 ktoe (thousand tonnes of oil equivalent) in 2020. The contribution of biofuels, along with the make renewable energy in that year represent 11.5% of the total energy consumed by transportation, which would achieve the target set by the EU in this area.

Electric cars with lithium batteries do not emit CO2 or damage the environment if the electricity comes from renewable sources like wind energy, solar photovoltaic and concentrated solar thermal. Wind turbines can supply electricity to electric vehicles in the future and will also serve to store and regulate the electricity intermittent of wind power.

By José Santamarta, www.evwind.com