Spain, Renewable Energy Titan, Approves Offshore Wind Power
Earlier this week Spain’s government approved a map of offshore areas to lease for wind energy development. This move will help Spain to further cement its status as an alternative energy giant.
Spain is already the world’s #3 wind power producer (it trails the U.S. and Germany) and is also the world’s #2 producer of solar power (only behind Germany). Until now, Spain has not used its extensive coastline to develop wind power in a significant way.
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Spain released word this week that they would also like to get rid of nuclear power plants, and additional capacity gained from wind power along the country’s 8000 kilometers of coastline should help to achieve this goal. The areas that are available for lease were selected based on wind speed, ocean topography, ecological factors, and boat traffic through the respective areas.
Offshore wind turbines are currently more expensive than land turbines given technological differences. They are also currently in lower demand. Hopefully with Spain’s progress toward developing offshore wind power, this will begin to change, making the equipment less expensive for everyone as demand rises. Then perhaps other countries will also move forward with offshore wind power development, like France and Greece, emerging players in the alternative energy race.
To give you a more specific idea of the value of wind power, earlier this year Spain broke the world wind power generation record, when a gust of wind generated 11,180 megawatts, temporarily meeting approximately 40% of the nation’s power need.
Photo Credit: phault on Flickr under a Creative Commons license
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