If we were to draw a map of the wind farms in Spain, a task that AEE —the association that represents companies in the sector— has already done, Madrid would stand out as a wide shaded strip. That’s right. Along with Ceuta and Melilla, it is the only territory in the country without this type of facility, for which other regions have invested heavily when looking for renewable energy sources. Sometimes with more or less popular acceptance. It may be shocking to see it reflected in a plane, but behind this peculiarity there are several reasons.
They are the explanation of the “singularity of Madrid”.
To start, a review of the map. On its website, the Wind Energy Association (AEE), which integrates more than 300 companies and claims to represent 90% of the Spanish sector, offers a detailed map of how wind farms are distributed throughout the peninsula. In Galicia, for example, it indicates 182 installations with a total power of 3,866 MW; in Aragón, 176 parks with 4,435 MW; and in Andalusia 163 and 3,521 MW, respectively. The group provides data from all communities, including the Balearic and Canary Islands. The exception is the brand —the AEE pointed out weeks ago in a statement— the autonomous cities and Madrid.
What is photography today? According to the balance published this month by AEE, installed wind power in Spain reached 29,813 MW last year, with 1,670 new MW. As for facilities, in 2022 46 wind farms were commissioned, bringing the list of facilities to over 1,300, totaling more than 22,000 wind turbines.
Thanks to this muscle, the sector has achieved records such as the one a few weeks ago, when it set a maximum of instantaneous power, with almost 60% of the energy generated at the peninsular level generated by the wind; and become the second European country with the most installed wind power, only behind Germany.
And what happens in Madrid? Two factors. The first, crucial, are the peculiarities of the territory itself and its protection at the administrative level. The second, those of its wind potential. “It happens that Madrid is surrounded by natural parks, and wind farms cannot be built in natural parks. It is not a matter of opinion, but of regulation: to build a park you must have a positive environmental impact statement, which is not exceeds if the project is within a natural park, affects biodiversity or the environment or if it is planned in a bird passage area”, they point out to Público from AEE.
The data collected on the Community of Madrid website shows that, including national and regional parks, picturesque spots, reserves and other sensitive environments, the protected area exceeds 120,400 hectares. “There is no interest from the industry because the areas where they could be installed do not have sufficient wind speed,” Paloma Tejero, popular spokesperson for the Environment Commission, insisted to the newspaper in August. The capital does host companies specialized in renewable energy and linked to wind generation facilities.
wind potential. But… What is really the wind potential of the community? In 2011, technicians from the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) asked themselves the same question during the preparation of the wind atlas of Spain. His analysis leaves interesting conclusions, such as “the scarcity of usable areas for the development of wind farms”: “Approximately 4% of the Madrid territory has a usable wind resource at a height of 80 m, with the technology available on the 2020 horizon. […]. This percentage is six times lower than the Spanish average of 23.43%,” the study stated.
The IAE evaluation concludes that the total potential of the community with an average annual speed of more than 6 m/s at an altitude of 80 m would be around 831 MW. The technicians detail the characteristics of the region, also pointing out aspects that may affect the land, such as municipal requirements to obtain licenses, easements or other affections for archaeological or agricultural land use reasons, and ditch: “The wind potential in terms of generation net electricity for the 831 MW installed on the mainland, is estimated at between 1.8 and 2.0 TWh/year”.
The challenge of new wind installations. In other areas, even governed by the PP, the party to which Madrid’s regional presidents have belonged since the mid-1990s, wind power has experienced a notable expansion in recent years. In Galicia, for example, the AEE identified in its latest report a cumulative power of 6,863 MW, the third largest in all of Spain. On the energy map, Madrid also stands out for its ratio between generation and consumption: in August the SER cited a report by Red Eléctrica which concluded that it covers 4.8% of the electricity it consumes with that which it generates.
The progress of wind farms is not always without controversy, however, how are the mobilities of fishermen from Galicia, Asturias and northern Portugal demonstrating after the Government has given the green light to the Maritime Space Management Plans (POEM), including the North Atlantic section, which opens to offshore wind about 2,350 square kilometers (km2) distributed along the Galician Cantabrian coast. The reason: fishermen need more studies on how going offshore would affect their activity.
Images: Johanna Montoya (Unsplash) and AEE
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