Is this because Spain has memories of their past renewable failures and or a combination of that and limitations of renewables? Spain turns down 26.3 GW of RES applications

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

Spain turns down 26.3 GW of RES applications

 

TSO cites lack of grid capacity for requests

77 of 110 large nodes seen at saturation point

Projected capacity surpasses 2030 targets

 

Spain's electricity transmission system operator Red Electrica de España has started to turn down numerous gigawatts of potential renewable projects amid an overwhelming number of applications.

 

The TSO said in a note Monday that as of June 30 it had turned down 26.3 GW of applications for which it had been "unable to allow permission."

The reasons behind refusal to connect were a "lack of capacity at the requested node, or because [grid] access has been requested at a substation which is unplanned."

According to Spanish press reports, the total includes 5.8 GW of wind capacity and 20.5 MW of solar PV capacity.

According to region-by-region data from the operator, of 110 400-kV transmission nodes on the Spanish high voltage network, 77 are already either in a state of saturation due to "existing capacity and capacity that already has access permits," or saturation is expected under existing permits and permits already in process.

In certain areas with more abundant solar resources, such as Castile La Mancha and Madrid, there was no more capacity available for solar PV connections as of June, the data showed.

 

 

Renewable asset development in Spain can be defined in three stages: the first is to obtain permission for grid access, the second is to obtain a connection agreement and the third is construction and operation.

Spain currently has 28.5 GW of wind and solar PV in operation, of which 23.5 GW wind and 5.1 GW solar PV.

A further 62.9 GW already has access permits but not yet operational.

This includes 43.6 of solar PV capacity and 18.8 GW of wind.

A further 84.4 GW has been requested but have no access permits.

The deluge of applications goes way beyond the country's current planning under its National Climate and Energy Planfor 2030, under which Spain has a target of 8.4 GW of solar PV in place by 2020, rising to 23.4 GW by 2025 and 36.9 GW by 2030.

Wind capacity is due to increase to 28 GW in 2020, 40.2 GW in 2025 and 50.3 GW in 2030.

The overwhelming demand for connections has led to a secondary market for grid rights.

According to a report in newspaper Expansion, the secondary market has few clear rules and rising prices, partly due to speculators obtaining permits without the corresponding capacity and in some cases, in locations where there is no infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Spain's CNCM regulator is overseeing the possible auctioning of connection points at sites where nuclear and coal plants are due for closure.

A new investment scenario is under proposal covering grid spending for the 2021-26 period. This could open up new possibilities to develop the grid to accommodate more renewables via improved connections and substations.

 

[NickW + 2,714]

Nope. Renewables are so cheap now, particularly solar that the supply is likely to swamp the grid capacity so the operator has to limit new entries. 

Edited September 4, 2019 by NickW

[markslawson + 1,057]

9 hours ago, NickW said:

Nope. Renewables are so cheap now, particularly solar that the supply is likely to swamp the grid capacity so the operator has to limit new entries. 

Actually Nick its not a matter of renewables being cheap now or at any time.. the problem is the state of the grid. When renewables switch on - wind blowing, sun shining - if you have too much of it the grid can get  overloaded. there have been instances where the grid operators have been unable to shut down enough conventional power to keep the grid stable (Western Australia) and this is bad when the main supply is from roof top solar which they authorities can't shut off.. this happened long before any  declines in equipment prices, basically because governments subsidised the excrement out of rooftop solar and the like. Spain is notorious for spending billions of Euros on green subsidies and is now discovering the limits of solar power from those subsidies... 

[NickW + 2,714]

10 hours ago, markslawson said:

Actually Nick its not a matter of renewables being cheap now or at any time.. the problem is the state of the grid. When renewables switch on - wind blowing, sun shining - if you have too much of it the grid can get  overloaded. there have been instances where the grid operators have been unable to shut down enough conventional power to keep the grid stable (Western Australia) and this is bad when the main supply is from roof top solar which they authorities can't shut off.. this happened long before any  declines in equipment prices, basically because governments subsidised the excrement out of rooftop solar and the like. Spain is notorious for spending billions of Euros on green subsidies and is now discovering the limits of solar power from those subsidies... 

Yeah yeah......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I don't dispute those points about intermittency but the fact still stands that solar PV is now so cheap (<30c/w installed) that potentially new suppliers would flood the market as it can generate on a price per kwh below any other generator on the market.

Solar PV no longer needs subsidy but to a point I agree that its market penetration has to be limited due to intermittency factors.

As battery supply increases particularly through the redeployment of 2nd life EV batteries the intermittency issue will rapidly be resolved.

 

[markslawson + 1,057]

13 hours ago, NickW said:

I don't dispute those points about intermittency but the fact still stands that solar PV is now so cheap (<30c/w installed) that potentially new suppliers would flood the market as it can generate on a price per kwh below any other generator on the market.

Nick W - again, as you seem to imply, we have been over all of this and you still don't seem to understand the vast problems. When the sun is shining the PVs you mention can certainly outbid the conventional generators no problem at all. In fact it was always the case. Because they don't consume fuel and there is no real way to store the stuff, yet, PV owners put everything on the spot market that's left over from whatever purchasing agreement they may have, when the sun shines. One frequent result of this is to completely collapse the spot price markets to zero or even negative. This started happening years ago. It isn't new. One result of that has been to drive some conventional generators out of business, so that they stop offering the reliable power to balance the intermittent generators, wholesale power prices skyrocket and the whole network becomes considerably more unstable and prone to blackouts (as has happened in Australia). A very costly side effect of supposedly cheap electricity. If there was some way of storing power then fine, part of the problem might go away, but only part. Storing the amounts needed even with very cheap technology would be a truly colossal task. Anyway, leave it with you..  

[NickW + 2,714]

11 hours ago, markslawson said:

Nick W - again, as you seem to imply, we have been over all of this and you still don't seem to understand the vast problems. When the sun is shining the PVs you mention can certainly outbid the conventional generators no problem at all. In fact it was always the case. Because they don't consume fuel and there is no real way to store the stuff, yet, PV owners put everything on the spot market that's left over from whatever purchasing agreement they may have, when the sun shines. One frequent result of this is to completely collapse the spot price markets to zero or even negative. This started happening years ago. It isn't new. One result of that has been to drive some conventional generators out of business, so that they stop offering the reliable power to balance the intermittent generators, wholesale power prices skyrocket and the whole network becomes considerably more unstable and prone to blackouts (as has happened in Australia). A very costly side effect of supposedly cheap electricity. If there was some way of storing power then fine, part of the problem might go away, but only part. Storing the amounts needed even with very cheap technology would be a truly colossal task. Anyway, leave it with you..  

I don't dispute many of those points however it still stands that on a price per kwh solar is cheaper than anything else.

--------------------------

A case in example:

I have just bought a new house with a large east - west roof and a smaller south facing roof.

DIY I can stick on it 7 kw of solar (could actually put a lot more) , a 4.5 kw battery and a immersion divert as a heat dump. Cost is about £7200 and about 3-4 days work.

Over the next few years we will replace out cars with a plug in Hybrid and cheapo second hand leaf.

With the use of time switches I can pull some demand into the peak day time hours (refrigeration, washing machine, dishwasher, slow cooker, chargeable devices) .

The battery stores most of what we need overnight and the cars are the primary dump for surplus as one car will normally be at home. Any residual gets turned into heat. No export, minimal import. The main losers are the Petrol station, HM Govt, the and gas / electricity company.

The panels will deliver approx. 18000km of electricity for driving and the bulk of  our household electricity use. Any left over will contribute towards water heating. (I may also stick in a thermal solar water heater while up on the roof and that will contribute another 3000 kwh of heat) .

Net return on this tax free is 15%* per year guaranteed  and that's in the cloudy UK.

* what am I getting from the bank?

 

[ceo_energemsier + 1,818]

So Spain is importing a lot of gas

_________________________

French gas supplies to Spain hit record high in August: Enagas

 

French gas supplies by pipeline to Spain doubled year on year in August to a record high on strong CCGT demand and a widening cross-border price spread between the countries, data from Spanish grid operator Enagas showed.

 

Delivered volume across the border was 4.5 TWh (428 million cu m) in August, up from 2.3 TWh a year before, Enagas data published Wednesday showed.

Gas demand for power generation has increased 95% so far this year to 73.1 TWh, driving overall demand up 16% year on year to 263.1 TWh.

Supplies from France have also been driven by the France-Spain price spread widening considerably, following the merger of the French PEG Nord and Sud zones in November last year.

The Spanish Mibgas day-ahead price averaged Eur11.973/MWh in August, with the unified PEG market at Eur10.177/MWh.

For August 2018, the Mibgas day-ahead price averaged Eur26.339/MWh, according to exchange data. This compared with monthly average prices of Eur26.559/MWh on the PEG Sud and Eur23.397/MWh on the PEG Nord, S&P Global Platts data show.

With this change in cross-border dynamics and competitive international LNG prices, pipeline volume from Algeria to Spain slipped 46% in August, reducing Algerian piped gas' share of supply to 20% from 46% in August 2018.

Overall, import volumes in August were nonetheless higher than nominations, as internal demand grew more than expected.

Imported pipeline volumes were 11.9 TWh in August compared with nominated volume of 10.9 TWh, with total gas demand around 3 TWh higher than expected at 34.3 TWh.

Demand for gas-fired plants surpassed a bullish forecast for August, rising 140% to 14.9 TWh, having been expected to double year on year to 12.5 TWh.

LNG IMPORTS, STORAGE AUCTIONS

The extra demand was largely met by a 75% year-on-year rise in LNG imports, with supplies from Russia, Qatar and Nigeria increasing.

Russian volumes remained strong after a record in July at 5.4 TWh in August, and Qatari volumes shipments also remained high, up 129% year on year to 7.3 TWh. By contrast, US LNG imports slipped after a record first half of the year, with arbitrage opportunities luring volumes to Asia.

With the robust uptick in supplies to the Spanish market, Enagas said Monday it would hold a fourth round of extraordinary auctions for gas storage capacity.

The company will hold three auctions in September to assign October injection capacity. They will take place on September 16, September 23 and September 30.

The amount to be auctioned will be 718 GWh.

This followed placements of nearly 9 TWh in the previous three months, including 5.2 TWh in August for September injection capacity.

The estimated maximum filling level is estimated at the end of the injection period at 30.946 TWh, Enagas said, taking into account stocks held in underground storage and available technical capacity of injection.