Spain is an example of how not to progress a renewable energy programme

Once the poster child of renewable energy, poor planning led to the decimation of Spain’s burgeoning renewable energy industry.

While many regions of Spain remain with impressive capacity, Spain as a whole has gone backwards in its journey towards building a world beating renewable energy sector.

North West Spain is the regional leader in renewable energy generation. Galicia has 70% of its energy needs met through renewable energy sources while the region of Castile y Leon has achieved the same target. On the other extreme the Balearic Islands and the Canaries both produced less than 5% of their energy from renewable sources.

Spain was at one point the European leader in solar power however the solar industry has faltered in Spain, while the wind power sector has remained buoyant.

The country led the way in renewable energy through a programme of subsidies that led to a boon in installations. However since then Spain has seen the balance of its energy mix tilt towards wind power, with solar taking a backseat.

A key problem was that Spain experienced an enormous tariff deficit, as generous subsidies for the solar energy industry resulted in enormous losses for electricity companies which nursed big losses, which resulted in billions worth of losses for Spain’s electricity companies.

The problem was that consumers were not being charged higher prices and attempts to shelter them ended up harming Spanish electricity companies, and eventually the employees of Spain’s renewable energy sector, which at one point was an EU leader.

Solar power proved to be particularly problematic in Spain, with generous subsidies to the industry, measures that insisted that new builds have solar panels installed and the relatively low energy provision from solar compared to wind led to the deathknell of the Spanish solar power industry.

Spain’s renewable energy sector finally took another hammer blow when the so called “solar tax”, which was only repealed this June.

While the North West remains an EU powerhouse due to its impressive wind power sector, the country as a whole has suffered as a result of disastrous planning. Other nations should take note of Spain’s mistakes and plan accordingly.