When 2013 ended the wind sector could not but be gratified for being the first source of electricity in Spain for the first time in history, and for being the first country in the world to achieve this. However, in 2014 and 2015 it was not possible to repeat such great deeds. For one more year, nuclear power plants have contributed to increased production Spanish electricity system.
Thus, in 2015, nuclear energy ranked first producing 20.8% of the electricity in our country (data from the Nuclear Forum with information of REE Preliminary Report 2015). This value is higher than that of year 2014, when the nuclear plants were also the first source generating 20.48%.of the electricity .
Nuclear in Spain
With these data, the Nuclear Forum recalls in a press release that with an installed capacity of 7864.7 MW in 2015, 7.26% of the total installed capacity in Spain, the seven reactors currently operating in Spain are essential for the stability of the electrical system being always available (24 hours 365 days a year). Specifically in 2015, the data show that nuclear has worked 7744 hours, 88.4% of the total.
Referring to the demand for electricity in 2015, it was 262,871 GWh, 1.8% more than in 2014. After correcting the influence of calendar and temperatures, demand for electricity was 1.6% higher than in 2014.
In the last decade, says the president of the Nuclear Forum, Antonio Cornadó, «nuclear power has produced about a fifth of the electricity generated in Spain, becoming an indispensable source of power generation in the Spanish energy mix due to its reliability and the security of supply it delivers to the system. «
CO2-free technologies
As for the electricity free of polluting emissions generated in Spain, nuclear power plants have provided 37% (3.6 percentage points increase compared to 2014).
Therefore, the Nuclear Forum claims that nuclear is the power source contributing the most to savings of greenhouse gases emissions. In fact, they state that after the Climate Change Summit in Paris, it seems clear that nuclear energy is one of the technologies that can best help curb climate change and that Spain would not be able to meet its commitments in this area without the contribution of nuclear energy. The Spanish nuclear fleet prevents the emission into the atmosphere of between 45 and 55 Mt CO2 each year.
Nuclear worldwide
Globally, data from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) show that there are 441 reactors ready to operate and 67 more under construction. In 2015 ten new units were connected to the grid (1 in South Korea, 1 in Russia and 8 in China); building of seven nuclear reactors began (1 in UAE and 6 in China) and seven units were definitively shut down (1 in Germany, 1 in the UK and 5 in Japan).
Carlos Sánchez Criado
Publicista por la Universidad Complutense. Director comercial de publicaciones técnicas del sector de la energía durante doce años. Director de Energy News Events, S.L. desde 2012 difundiendo información en Energynews.es, movilidadelectrica.com e hidrogeno-verde.es. Y por supuesto, organizando eventos como VEM, la Feria del Vehículo Eléctrico de Madrid.
