Friday, March 29

The electricity demand closed August in Spain with a fall of 2.3%


The national electricity demand experienced a decrease of 2.3% in August with respect to the same month of the previous year and once the effects of temperature and calendar were discounted, in a month in which the combined cycles covered 33% of the generation. In gross terms, a demand of 22,077 gigawatt hours (GWh) is estimated, 0.1% higher than that of August 2021, according to data from Red Eléctrica.

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The network manager indicates that the behavior of the demand in August differs from that observed in previous months, since in July the demand increased by 2.8% compared to July 2021 -although it fell by 0.4% discounting temperature and calendar-; while in June the year-on-year increase was 2.5% -an increase of 0.1% taking into account both factors-.

In August, the Government’s energy saving plan to reduce consumption came into effect in the second week of the month. Spain has a commitment with Brussels to voluntarily reduce gas consumption by 7% between August 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023, compared to the average consumption of the last five years. However, this month of August, generation with combined gas cycles soared, until it was the first source of generation, ahead of nuclear (20.2%) and wind, which amounted to 4,064 GWh and accounted for 16 % of the total.

And this despite the fact that wind power production increased by 8.5% compared to the same month in 2021, while photovoltaic solar energy, with 3,188 GWh recorded that month, increased its production by 33.3% compared to the last year, reached a share of 12.5% ​​of the total. With these data, both technologies, wind and photovoltaic, registered maximum production in the month of August since records are available. For its part, hydraulic generation fell by 44.9% compared to August last year due to the lack of rainfall. In fact, this month saw the lowest production (1,036 GWh) with this source since 1992.

In the month of August, and according to data estimated to date, generation from renewable energy sources represented 37% of production. 57.8% of electricity production came from technologies that do not emit CO2 equivalent. In the first eight months of 2022, according to provisional data, once the influence of the calendar and temperatures have been corrected, demand is 1.8% lower than that registered in the previous year.

With regard to the peninsular electricity system, the demand for August fell by 3.2%, compared to the same month last year, taking into account the effects of the calendar and temperatures -20,534 GWh, 0.6% less than the recorded in the same month of 2021 in gross terms-. In the previous months, peninsular demand rose 2.2% in July and 1.8% in June compared to the same months of the previous year. Discounting the effect of temperature and calendar, demand fell by 1.11% in July and 0.75% in June.

In the first eight months of the year, once the influence of both factors has been corrected, demand is 2.6% lower than that registered in the same period of the previous year.

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Regarding the archipelagos, in the Balearic Islands the demand for electrical energy in this month was estimated at 730,434 megawatt hours (MWh), 15.5% higher than that registered in August 2021. According to provisional data, if Taking into account the effects of the calendar and temperatures, the increase stands at 17.9% compared to the previous year. So far this summer, the electricity demand in the Balearic Islands had experienced an increase of 16.7% in July compared to July of last year and 24.9% in June compared to the same month of 2021. Taking into account the factors of temperature and calendar, the increases were 15.7% and 25.4%.

Regarding generation, the combined cycle, with 71.5% of the energy produced in the Balearic Islands, was the first source of the islands in August. Thus, renewable energy without CO2 equivalent emissions generated in the Balearic community represents 6.7% of the total. In addition, during this month, the submarine link between the Peninsula and Mallorca contributed to cover 10.4% of the Balearic electricity demand.

For its part, in the Canary archipelago, the demand for electrical energy is estimated at 772,644 MWh, 6.4% higher than that registered in August 2021. If the effects of the calendar and temperatures are taken into account, the demand increases 6% compared to the previous year. The electricity demand had registered an increase of 7.8% in July and 8.9% in June, always compared to the same months of 2021. Discounting the effects of the calendar and temperatures, the increases were 6.7% in July and 9.03% in June.

With regard to electricity generation in the Canary Islands, the combined cycle, with 36.7% of the total, was also the first source in the month of August. Thus, renewables and emission-free technologies represented 29.3% of production, with the contribution of wind power being 24.6%.



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