Catalonia is moving away from the renewable electricity production targets set for 2030, as 2021 was missing for 80.7% to be covered and in 2022 it recorded an even greater percentage, of 83.1%, largely as a consequence of the delay in the processing of the projects.
This is the main conclusion of the latest report prepared by the Observatory of Renewable Energies of Catalonia, Obercat, which ensures that the entry of new renewable generation capacity does not prevent it from taking a step back in compliance with ‘objectives, as reported by Efe. Last year, 0.9 TWh of renewables were generated less than the previous year and demand coverage with these sources fell by more than two percentage points, reaching only 13.1%.
“The delays in processing, resulting from the insufficiency of means and alternative solutions, slow down the achievement of the objectives and encourage the promoters to give up”, the observatory lamented in a statement. The delay in the processing of projects reaches 540 days for photovoltaics and is similar to wind, despite the fact that last year nearly 600 million euros were mobilized from individuals and companies to more than 73,000 installations self-consumption Nuclear covered 53.3% of electricity demand, 2.6% more than in 2021. This percentage means that nuclear reactors have contributed nine times more than hydropower, almost ten times more than wind power and 57 times more than photovoltaic solar.
“It is once again evident that without a determined deployment of the two renewable energies with the greatest capacity to generate – photovoltaics and wind – the possibility of replacing nuclear generation with indigenous renewables when it proceeds to its closure is remote,” he warns the observatory Combined cycles have covered 18% of electricity demand, while cogeneration has assumed 8%. With respect to renewable sources, hydraulics has reached 5.95%, despite reducing its contribution by 21% due to the drought; and wind power has covered 5.6%, after falling 9.3% compared to 2021. Solar photovoltaics, excluding self-consumption, have covered only 0.92% of demand, a 9.3% more than in 2021. Generation with other renewables (biogas and biomass) covered 0.4%.
The observatory concludes that “in 2022, the energy that was generated and consumed in Catalonia was dirtier, less indigenous and less renewable than in 2021”. Faced with the “bottleneck” that is the administrative processing, Obercat demands that the number of people who solve the files be increased and that the procedures be simplified “urgently”. In addition, he warns that “the interest of promoters in Catalonia is cooling” given the “economic and financial uncertainty” and “the perception of the Catalan Administration as not very efficient and decisive”.
There are 172 large projects awaiting the start of their processing that involve 6,686.13 MW of wind power and 578 projects that involve 8,200.44 Mwh of photovoltaic power and more than 15,000 hectares. But only 12% of the potential portfolio and 20% of the 3,393.10 MW of new land-based wind power that should be in service by 2030, according to the Energy Outlook of Catalonia (Proencat 2050), are being processed effectively. . The observatory is driven by organizations in the field of renewable energy and efficient energy management, such as producers and users, clusters and professional associations.
