Busting a wind boom in Spain

Record output from Spain's wind turbines is being accompanied by new government regulatory action reducing price support to renewables.

Wind energy in Spain sets record: CBC

The Spanish Wind Energy Association said wind energy accounted for 25 per cent of all electrical production in January, more than both coal and nuclear power.
"The Spanish economy has gained 3 euros for every one euro invested in incentives for wind farms," the association said in a blog post, adding that the fossil fuels needed to generate the same amount of electricity would have cost $406 million.

Or, more likely, not.
Spain's unemployment rate has reached 26% and is still rising, with another 132,000 unemployed in January alone.


The year started with Wind Power Monthly magazine reporting:

The once-thriving industry has been forced on to the defensive by a three-year slowdown in the wind market, and AEE [Spain's national wind association] is lobbying for an early lift of the government's indefinite moratorium on new wind projects, in force from 1 January. The party's over, says Eduard Sala de Vedruna, senior analyst at energy consultants IHS Emerging Energy Research (IHS EER). Even if the suspension is lifted as early as 2014, he says, severe cuts to price-support mechanisms will prevent any return to the 2GW annual rates of just a few years ago.

The same source notes February beginning with the Spanish government delivering a "new blow to Spanish wind sector."

Feed-in-tariffs paid to wind power and other renewables producers will no longer be adjusted for inflation according to the retail price index...
In addition, renewables producers will no longer be able to opt for remuneration based on the market price plus the feed-in tariff...