Spain risks missing 2030 wind energy target, think-tank says

Spain needs to add wind energy capacity at a much faster pace or it risks missing its ambitious 2030 target, the U.S.-based Global Energy Monitor (GEM) think-tank said in a report published on Wednesday.

Renewable energy is breaking records in the country, generating more than half of its electricity last year. Wind power was the main contributor, accounting for almost a quarter of the electricity produced.

With roughly 30 gigawatts (GW) of installed wind capacity Spain is a European leader, behind only Germany, according to Spanish wind lobby AEE.

However, local opposition in some regions and licensing bottlenecks have weighed on the deployment of new wind farms.

Roughly 1.7 GW worth of wind parks are under construction, according to the GEM report, meaning that Spain is already more than halfway through its end-of-decade goal of 62 GW.

While a pipeline of some 40 GW should be more than enough to reach that goal, the problem is the pace of deployment: over the next six years, it will need to increase nearly fivefold from the roughly 1 GW added annually on average in 2019-2023, GEM said.

“As things stand, Spain isn’t likely to meet the 2030 target for wind,” said GEM researcher Gregor Clark, the author of the report.

The Energy Ministry declined to comment.

Addressing bottlenecks and moving swiftly with the deployment of offshore wind parks will be key to achieve the goal, Clark added.

Last year, the country only added some 600 MW of capacity, down from almost 1.7 GW in 2022, according to the AEE lobby, which is also calling for an acceleration.

Spain is on track to strengthen its European leadership in utility-scale solar projects, according to the GEM report, which monitors existing renewable projects, those under construction and the broader plans.

Spain’s 7.8 GW of utility-scale solar projects under construction represent more capacity than the next three European countries combined, according to the report.