Spain is a State full of contrasts. At a demographic level, the population density is concentrated in Madrid and coastal cities, that is, 30% of the territory concentrates 90% of the people. It is “tight Spain.” The rest, approximately five million people, occupy 70% of the territory, in the interior of the peninsula.
More people consume more resources, which puts two realities on the table: Madrid consumes more and generates less energy than anyone else and that emptied Spain is the energy engine of the State, as the report summarizes “The energy transition in the Spanish rural environment” prepared by Monitor Deloitte. The most striking fact: 84% of renewable energy generation comes from rural environments.
Context. In the collective imagination we associate energy production with large nuclear or fossil fuel installations, but nothing is further from current reality. Spain is carrying out an energy transition collected in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan with the objective of reaching 81% electricity generation from renewables.
And it’s on the right track: the report of the Spanish Electrical System of Red Eléctrica for 2023 It showed that it had already exceeded the 50% quota. At specific moments, has reached 100% supply. Listing renewable sources by their importance, we find wind energy prominently, followed by photovoltaic and hydraulic energy.
Where. In rural territory, in that sparsely populated place where natural resources and space abound. The report highlights regions such as Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León and Aragón as hubs precisely because of their availability of soil and climatic resources (radiation and wind).
Why is it important. Because the State needs that emptied Spain and its resources to successfully carry out its energy transition. Without that territory or its available resources, there is no decarbonization or energy sovereignty.
Obviously a paradox occurs: that the most populated places are those that produce the least energy and vice versa, which generates a territorial imbalance. However, this deployment of infrastructure can become an opportunity to promote local employment and thus establish the population. Finally, agrivoltaics is revealed as a way to modernize the agricultural sector, making it possible to make cultivation for food compatible with energy supply, all on the same soil.
In figures. In addition to this substantial share of 84% of renewable energy from rural areas, the report reveals other interesting figures:
- There are 15 provinces with critical population density (<30 inhabitants/km²), but the greatest renewable potential.
- The share of photovoltaic solar energy in the generation mix of Castilla-La Mancha exceeds 25%.
- Water retention in agricultural soils thanks to agrivoltaics projects has a potential increase of 60%.
- The contribution of the primary sector in rural provinces is 7.5% of GDP, almost triple the state average (2.7%).
In detail. The Deloitte report identifies five priorities to consolidate the energy role of rural areas, one of them being the most prominent and urgent: the modernization of network infrastructure for its use, the true bottleneck. The Spanish electricity grid was designed for a handful of large power plants located near cities and what renewables offer is just the opposite: many facilities dispersed throughout the interior, far from consumption and also generating energy in a variable way.
The other four priorities identified in the report are: the development of projects of local value around renewables; citizen participation in projects; territorial coordination of deployment; and the commitment to multifunction models where energy does not compete but coexists with the agricultural sector.
In Xataka | Renewables increasingly occupy a greater percentage of territory in Spain. And some CCAA are taking measures
Cover | E. Crespo and Pexels
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