In the first half of 2018, on the territory of the state of Spain, its mainland, the amount of generated electricity covered almost 46% of the demand. This data was announced by the Spanish operator in the electric power industry REE (Red Eléctrica de España). Such record figures were achieved thanks to the weather, favorable for the production of energy from inexhaustible sources.
According to statistics, 22.6% of total consumption was generated by wind farms. It is noted that this figure exceeds the same figures for the past 2017 by 10.4%, due to the fact that in the first half of the year windy weather was established in the country. Weather conditions have also contributed to the all-time high rate of electricity generation from hydroelectric power plants. Compared to the same period in 2017, production in 2018 increased by 74%.
As for solar energy, according to official resources, this year it has become more stable. The total capacity of the country’s solar power plants is 4.6 GW. The consumption indicators of this alternative energy sector amounted to 4.6% of the total figures. According to experts, based on the constant variability of data on the production of inexhaustible energy, it is necessary to resolve the issue of the possibility of storing electricity, that is, creating special storage facilities.
Energy storage issue
This understanding has arisen from the experience of some countries. So, last year, Scotland was faced with the fact that its wind stations generated 86.47 thousand MWh on one of the days, and consumption throughout the country on the same day amounted to only half of the generated energy, that is, 41.87 thousand. MWh. All consumers were taken into account – private houses, enterprises, public premises, offices. Calculations have established that with special storage facilities, for private households alone, this amount of generated energy would be enough for 7 million homes, which is three times the actual number of existing households in Scotland.
Today in this country they are looking for new effective ways of storing excess electricity. One of the projects of Intelligent Land Investments deserves attention. They propose to create a hydroelectric power plant operating on the principle of a closed cycle. Installation site – Loch Ness. The principle of operation of the electric turbines of the station is similar to the system of circulation and reuse of the braking system of an automobile. That is, if more electricity is generated than the consumer needs, its surplus will be used for the operation of the reservoir itself, its filling.
If it is necessary to supply energy to the general network, the pump motors will act as generators and the structure will begin to work on the principle of a conventional hydroelectric power plant. The disadvantage of the project is the inability to quickly rebuild if electricity consumption grows. However, the developers propose to equip a special battery storage in this case, which will make it possible to start the station without stopping the supply of electricity.