|
Spain Electricity
Although Spain's mountainous terrain would appear to be
wellsuited to hydroelectric power production, the scarcity of
water
limited such potential and was the principal reason for
Spain's
heavy dependence on thermal power. In 1986 only 27.2
percent of
the country's electricity came from hydroelectric plants,
while
50.6 percent came from conventional thermal plants, and
22.2
percent came from nuclear plants. The most important fuel
for the
production of electricity was coal, which generated about
40
percent of the total. In 1987 the production of
electricity
amounted to 132,000 million kilowatt hours--about six
times the
amount produced in 1960 and twice the production level of
1970.
The total installed capacity of the predominantly
privately owned
electrical system was about 40 gigawatts--an amount large
enough
to meet the country's needs and to allow some exports. In
the
second half of the 1980s, the growth of the demand for
electrical
power was less than anticipated, and Spain had a supply
adequate
to last until the mid-1990s. The Spanish level of per
capita
electrical power consumption was among the lowest in
Western
Europe, surpassing only those of Greece and Portugal.
A key element in the future of Spain's electrical power
industry was the role to be assigned to nuclear power.
Nuclear
power was an important factor because of scarce petroleum
reserves, the limited potential for hydroelectric power
production, and the presence of significant uranium
deposits. The
first PEN, drawn up in 1978, emphasized the role that
nuclear
power would play in meeting the nation's ever-increasing
need for
electricity. The revised PEN of 1984 postponed the opening
of the
Lemoniz Nuclear Power Plant for political reasons, and it
continued the mothballing of three other nuclear plants.
The
government decided, nonetheless, that if the demand for
electricity increased by more than 3 percent, work on one
of the
plants might be restarted. The new PEN also emphasized the
benefits of increased natural gas consumption.
Data as of December 1988
|
