The generation of wind power, photovoltaic and solar thermal energy grows in the first nine months of 2020

Renewable generation grows in the first nine months of 2020 in Spain, in which its production increased by 16.3% compared to the same period in 2020. Solar photovoltaic and hydro are the main technologies that have made this possible.

Renewables in our country continue to give good news. Until September, its annual production reached 80,577 GWh, a figure that represents an increase of 16.3% compared to the same period in 2019. If we look in detail, solar photovoltaic, whose generation was 67.5% higher, has been one of the drivers of this growth, followed by hydro, which increased its generation by 41.6%, and by the other renewables which, although they have a lower share of the mix, from January to September produced 20, 6% more than in 2019.

And the fact is that, although during this period the demand for electricity decreased by 6.6% compared to the previous year, mainly due to the coronavirus crisis, the truth is that the weather conditions, together with the deployment of new installed power in our country have given a boost to green technologies, which occupied 43.1% of total national production as of September 30, 7.5 percentage points more than in 2019.

During the first half of the year, the monthly share of renewables in the generation structure exceeded 40%, with May being the month with the greatest prominence for green technologies in our system, contributing 52.4% of the total.

Wind power, which has more than 650 MW of new generation power installed during 2020, maintained its 2019 production values ??with a slight decrease of 0.5%, but it stands as the second technology in our country as it is responsible for 1 out of every 5 GWh generated in our system. Only nuclear, whose share was 22.1%, surpasses wind in production from January to September.

For its part, hydroelectric power has seen its production grow by 41.6% from January to September of this year compared to 19, and has been responsible for a total of 23,066 GWh, 12.3% of the electricity in the system national electric. Thus, the months of January and April stand out as the ones with the greatest contribution of this technology to the generation mix.

But if there is a technology that stands out above all other renewables in relation to its growth in 2020, it is solar photovoltaic. Until September 30, its data is 67.5% higher than that produced in the first nine months of 2019. Its share in the generation structure has gone from the discreet 3.8% that it held in 2019 to 6.6 %, a not inconsiderable figure for a type of production that depends on sunlight for its electricity production.


August 3, the day that solar photovoltaic turned 2019 around Solar photovoltaic, which only in 2020 has seen its generation park increased by more than 1,000 MW at the country level, left behind all the electricity production of last year (9,240 GWh as of December 31, 2019) on August 3, the day it reached 9,297 GWh per year. At the end of September this year, its record is already 12,406 GWh.

28.7% less CO2 equivalent emissions The direct consequence of an increase in the renewable contribution to the Spanish electricity system is the reduction in tons of CO2 equivalent associated with electricity generation, which, at the end of the third quarter, will be calculated it had been 28.7% lower than that registered in the same period of 2019.