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22 April 2008 - Spanish efforts to increase the amount of wind energy in the country's overall energy matrix could face technical bottlenecks, reports Reuters.
The news source noted industry analysts saying that Spain already has an installed base of 15 000 MW in wind energy facilities, with ambitious targets of 20 000 MW by 2010 and 30 000 MW by 2020. Spanish wind power producers foresee a maximum capacity of 40 000 MW by 2030.
But Red Electrica de Espana (REE), the country's grid operator, constrains the share of wind power to 30 per cent of the energy mix, to ensure that the grid does not falter on wind availability issues.
Wind power producers are reportedly concerned about this set-limit and are expecting to see downtime for wind facilities once the limit is breached.
The REE has factored in the 30 per cent limit, after instances occurred when an increased wind power component in the energy grid resulted in wide fluctuations in over-the-counter power markets.
The REE has suggested that interlinking the Spanish grid with the French power network could make Spain less vulnerable in wind unavailability scenarios.
Spain is reportedly one of the most isolated electrical systems in Europe, with only 5 per cent interconnection capacity. The REE has also suggested increasing the capacity of wind turbines to make wind power a more reliable source.
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