Renewables meet over a third of electricity needs

A provisional report by Red Eléctrica de España (REE), the public company that oversees power delivery, shows that the renewable energy sources of wind, water and solar power covered 35 percent of total electricity demand in 2010.

The figure can be explained by a sharp rise in production - wind power supply, for instance, grew 18.5 percent and already covers 16 percent of demand, the report shows. REE president Luis Atienza stated that "in two or three years wind energy will surpass nuclear energy as [Spain's] second source of electricity production." Combined-cycle gas plants remainthe country's leading power source.

Meanwhile, solar energy - mainly photovoltaic - represented three percent of electricity supply, a figure that will rise when thermosolar plants currently under construction are completed. A rainy year also meant that hydroelectric production swelled by 59 percent.