The wind sector asks Sánchez to enter the National Security Strategy after covering 24% of electricity demand in 2022

The generation of electricity with wind energy broke a new record last year, with the production of 61,069 gigawatts per hour of electricity that were capable of covering 24% of the electrical demand. Given the crucial nature of the electricity supply that these figures represent, the Association of Wind Companies (AEE) is trying to get the Government to include this sector within the National Security Strategy, which would make the 22,042 wind turbines distributed in the 1,345 wind farms wind energy that exists throughout Spain will enter the list of critical infrastructures.

The inclusion of wind energy within the National Security Strategy is one of the objectives that this sector has set for this legislature, so that the generation of wind energy is also part of the catalog of infrastructures in which, due to the services they provide, the alteration or interruption of their operation due to natural causes or an attack of any type would have serious consequences.. This list is secret and it is estimated that within it there are some 3,500 facilities from different sectors, including energy and networks.. Nuclear power plants would be included in the consequences of a terrorist or cyber attack against them.

What the wind sector wants is for its facilities to also have this important consideration and for them to remain under the umbrella of the State as places that deserve special protection because the consequences of a stoppage for natural reasons or caused by human action would also be especially important. .

To do this, the sector is in contact with the three entities that intervene in the catalog of critical infrastructures, the National Center for the Protection of Critical Infrastructures (CNPIC) of the Civil Guard, the National Institute of Cybersecurity (Incibe) and the Ministry of Industry, although it is also clear that the final decision on the National Security Plan corresponds to the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who does not have to update it with an established horizon either.. Although the outcome of these efforts is uncertain, the sector also feels supported by a new European directive on critical infrastructure that places special emphasis on guaranteeing the safety of alternative energy facilities to gas from Russia.

The PREPA alleges reasons and presents reasons for this. On the one hand, remember that in the midst of the Covid pandemic there was already a “precedent” when the Government allowed the ban on people to be accompanied to be broken so that park and wind turbine workers could go two by two to check that everything was working. .

Second source of energy, after gas

On the other hand, it uses the incontestable fact that wind energy has become a pillar of the energy system, given that last year it responded to 24% of the country's electricity demand, generating 61,069 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity. and it became the second electricity production technology after combined cycles, due to an increase in gas generation that the AEE relates to “the introduction of the Iberian exception in June 2022.”

According to a framework study prepared by the AEE on the “Impact of the Wind Sector in Spain” in 2022, last year it closed with 29,813 megawatts (MW) of installed power, of which 1,640 had been installed in the previous twelve months. Spain is the fifth country with the most installed wind power behind China, the United States, Germany and India and the second in the EU.

The progression of this technology is increasing, from a period between 2012 and 2018 in which no more power was installed in Spain and from 2019 onwards it began to take off again, as it had done, more modestly, in the early 2000s. .

Now, wind energy is an entire economic sector that in 2022 contributed to 0.5% of the Spanish GDP, with 5,896 million and continued the upward path due to the number of direct and indirect jobs created, which grew by 14% compared to 2021.. Last year, it employed 39,015 people, who directly -18,268- or indirectly 20,737- work in the 1,345 wind farms -48 more than the previous year- implemented throughout Spain, with a total of 22,042 wind turbines. Castilla y León, Aragón, Galicia, Andalusia and Castilla-La Mancha are the communities with the most parks.

More savings, less emissions

The report highlights that last year the generation of electricity with wind energy saved 7,358 million euros to the system and contributed to lowering the price of electricity in the wholesale market by 31.25 euros/Mhw, a “record value” compared to previous savings.. This saving was 18.4% in 2021 or 5.3 euros in 2020. The savings were mainly in the residential sector -2,111 million in total- and in commerce, services and public administrations -1,995 million-.

In addition to the economic savings, which is the effect, the fact that in 2022 more wind energy was generated than in previous years also made it necessary to use fewer fossil fuels, which represented savings and also a decrease in CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases. greenhouse.

According to the AEE report, electricity generation with wind energy in 2022 prevented 3.8 million tons of oil equivalent (toe) of coal, 7.6 million toe of natural gas and 300,000 toe of oil from having to be imported.. This represented a saving of 6,491 million euros in fossil fuels that did not have to be imported -2.4 times more than the 2,703 million in 2021) and the emission into the atmosphere of 300,000 million tons of CO2 was avoided and a saving of 732 millions in emission rights that did not need to be purchased.

In 2022, wind energy also prevented the emission of 363 thousand tons of sulfur dioxide, 112 thousand tons of nitric oxygen and 7,183 million tons of suspended particles.