You have probably heard about renewable energies and the urgency of their mass adoption at the domestic and business level. But do you really know how advanced the sector is and what benefits they bring? In this article we reveal the most important ingredients that make renewable energies the recipe for the sustainability of the future.
Massive growth in recent years
Every year, the use of these energies is becoming more common and this is reflected in the data. Globally, 227GW more capacity was installed in 2021, an increase of 4.7% over 2020 levels, a record year in which not only has renewable energy expanded, but it has also diversified.
Solar energy capacity, utility batteries and the hydrogen electrolyser are the big winners. The first of these, for being the one that has sustained the most growth during 2020 at 30%; and the latter two for their escalation in market share, tripling their expansion last year.
The fact that renewable energies are gaining the weight they deserve within industry and self-consumption makes the economy cleaner and more sustainable. Since renewable energy is not a scarce commodity, unlike others, its price tends to fall as the accessibility and consumption of these energies increases. And the issue of prices is not trivial, if we take into account the historic peaks we have been experiencing in countries such as Spain in recent months.
Spain is a leader in renewable energies
Spain’s renewables sector is leading the way in Europe. 47.6% of electricity production comes from renewable energies, figures that put Spain at the top of the global ranking. Wind energy is the most predominant in our country, producing 23.3% of electricity.
The distribution of renewable energies in Spain is as follows:
- Wind: 23.3%.
- Nuclear: 20.8%.
- Combined cycle: 17.7%.
- Hydroelectric: 11.4%.
- Cogeneration: 10%.
- Photovoltaic 8%.
- Solar thermal: 1.8%.
Barring a major surprise, by 2022, renewables and nuclear are expected to exceed 70% market share, reducing the use of coal to a minimum of 1-2%, a practically residual figure.
Offshore wind a necessary asset
The recent boosts to offshore wind are only good news for the sector. Galicia will be chosen to start up a mega offshore wind farm, which will generate 2,180 megawatts, corresponding to 70% of the energy that the government must have in place by 2030.
Globally, sustained growth of 16% is expected this year. The current energy crisis is a wake-up call to accelerate growth and deployment processes as old energy systems become increasingly controlled and problematic.
If the usability of this energy has not been as exponential as it could have been, it is due to certain drawbacks such as the operational costs involved, as well as the lack of regulation in some areas of application.
The challenge now is to finally harmonise all these rules and facilitate the deployment of energies such as these, which are not only essential for the sustainability of our economy, but also for employment, as they can generate thousands of jobs and have a pull effect on the entire value chain.