• Electricity consumption recovers in 2015 a positive growth rate that hadn’t been registered since 2010
• The Spanish Peninsula-Balearic Islands interconnection allowed 22.8% of the demand on the Balearic Islands to be covered

In 2015, electrical energy demand on the Spanish peninsula reached 248,181 GWh, a growth of 1.9% year-on-year. After factoring in the effects of seasonal and working patterns, electricity demand grew 1.5% with regard to that registered in 2014.

Red Eléctrica publishes this information in the ‘Spanish Electricity System - Preliminary Report 2015’ that unveils the annual result of the behaviour of the electricity system during 2015; a year in which demand on the Spanish peninsula has registered a positive value for the first time in the last five years.

On February 4, maximum values for the year were set with instantaneous power reaching 40,726 MW at 7:56 pm, and hourly demand reaching 40,324 MWh between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm. In addition, on 20 January, the maximum daily electricity demand was registered 821 GWh.

Annual evolution of the peninsular electricity demand (rolling year)

In 2015, 37.4% of electrical energy demand was covered with renewable generation. The contribution of this technology in the production of electricity has dropped 5.4 points from the previous year due mainly to the fall in hydroelectric generation which has been 28.2% less than in the previous year. Wind energy generation, meanwhile, has decreased its production by 5.3% compared to 2014, reaching 47,948 GWh.

Regarding electricity demand coverage, in 2015 nuclear covered 21.7%, followed by coal which covered 20.3%, wind 19.1%, hydroelectric 11.1%, cogeneration and other 10.6%, combined cycle 10%, and lastly, solar thermal and renewable technologies, which together covered 7.2% of the annual demand, a figure similar to that registered in 2014.

Annual peninsular demand coverage 2015

Installed power capacity: Fuel-gas generation disappears from the Peninsula

Installed power capacity in the complete set of generating facilities on the Spanish peninsula increased slightly in 2015, closing the year at 102,613 MW (an increase of 0.4% compared to 2014). Most of new installed power has corresponded to the commissioning of the 854 MW ‘La Muela II’ hydroelectric station, which has offset the closure of the last fuel-gas fired power station, ‘Foix’, on the Peninsula, which reduced capacity by 520 MW. Variations in the rest of technologies have been nil or insignificant.

Installed power capacity as at 31 December 2015

Non-peninsular systems

Annual demand for electricity in the set of non-peninsular systems grew by 2.2% in 2015 as compared to the previous year. The demand by system compared to values registered in 2014 is as follows: a 4.1% increase in the Balearic Islands, 1.1% in the Canary Islands and 2.5% in Melilla, while Ceuta registered a fall of 2.6%.

The Spanish Peninsula-Balearic Islands interconnection registered an export balance from the Peninsula to the Balearic Islands of 1,328 GWh, a 2.3% increase compared to 2014, that has enabled 22.8% of the demand of the Balearic Islands’ electricity system to be covered.

Exporter balance in the international exchange programme.

The balance of international electricity exchanges remained, for yet another year, as an exporter, with 467 GWh, a value 86.3% less than in 2014. In 2015, exports reached 15,119 GWh and imports reached 14,652 GWh.

Balance of international electricity exchanges

National power transmission grid

443 km of new lines were commissioned during 2015, meaning that at the end of the year the national transmission grid totalled 43,153 km of lines. Furthermore, transformer capacity rose by 605 MVA, increasing the total national transformer capacity to 84,544 MVA.

To check the progress of the report of the Spanish electricity system 2015 on the website of Red Eléctrica, click here .

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