Nuclear (22,6%), wind (19,2%) and coal thermal (17,4%) occupy the top 3 of the technologies to generate electricity in 2017.
The intense drought (with reservoirs at 38% of their maximum capacity) is giving a rebirth to the carbon. The low rainfall has reduced the contribution of hydraulic generation to the electrical system to 7,3% of the total.
Because of this, the demand has to be offset with coal and gas (which contributed 31,1%, almost a third of the demand).
Unfortunately, that means an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
Another factor is renewables - whose installed power has not increased in the last year - represented 33,7% of electricity production (it was 40,8% in 2016).
The energy mix in 2017 was quite stable, underpinned by nuclear and wind energy. The latter remained at the same levels as in 2016 (19,2%). “Wind power fluctuates locally and in time bands, but in the annual calculation the variability is low”, highlights Fernando Ferrando, president of the Fundación Renovables.
Unfortunately, the decline in hydraulic production has placed this sector in the sixth position (it has gone from 14,6% to 7,3%).
This decrease has been covered with coal (rises from 14,3% to 17,4% of demand) and, in smaller measure, for gas.
No progress is made in a future transition
Pedro Linares, professor of the Chair of Energy and Sustainability at the Pontifical University of Comillas argues, the energy transition gives blocking symptoms. "If the availability of stored water is reduced, a resource over which we have no control, and the available alternative is coal and gas, the result is a greater weight of fossil fuels and more gas emissions",
The professor adds the advantages of the vast hydraulic park, because "if there is a good year, the electrical mix is very clean." In addition, this is a key pillar to strengthen or support renewable sources. However, an excessive dependence on rainwater causes vulnerability of the system, since the climate change it can make episodes of low hydraulic production repetitive.
Future transition
Therefore, in the event that water resources grow and decrease, Linares believes that “we must begin to consider how to replace fossil fuels with renewable energies, first substituting coal and, later, gas, something necessary to achieve the full decarbonization of the electrical system ”. The key will be to determine the rate of replacement of these fossil fuels.
Experts call for more renewables to avoid depending on rainwater.
The authorities and experts see it necessary to break the road block to achieve an energy transition towards a more sustainable model. “You cannot change the model from one day to the next; but if there is political will, anything is possible.
The problem is that there are oligopolies and many interests at stake.
Many experts believe: “The argument that, since it does not rain, there is no choice but to resort to coal and that, therefore, electricity is more expensive, is not acceptable. We cannot give it as something unchangeable, like someone who suffers in silence ”.
In several countries, such as Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands among others ... they have not stopped investing in the renovation of their electrical system, which means “abandoning the Fossil fuels and nuclear, and give way to a system based on renewables ”.
"There are multiple and advantages of a technological development based on renewables and, in addition, for the countries it reports a supremacy in the field of the economy ”.
Carbonless mega auctions
The Government has already developed a plan to increase the presence of renewable sources, through an auction system that has already awarded 8.737 new megawatts of renewable power, to achieve that 20% of the energy be renewable in 2020, as marked by the Paris agreement.
Pool prices
Currently, production prices are about 53 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), but if we look around the world, energy can already be obtained from much lower pricesEg the 17 euros per MWh obtained in the free auction held a few weeks ago in Mexico.
But according to several experts “Little progress has been made on the path to achieving a 100% renewable energy mix; both wind and solar energy they are paralyzed, and there are no plans to do without coal and nuclear "
