The rise in the price of electricity that took place in early 2021 has been one of the most analyzed topics in recent weeks. From the reason for this rise to series of tricks with which to lower the bill from now on so as not to be scared when receiving it, the electricity market has never been on the lips of so many people. However, taking into account the different energy sources that today provide electricity to homes in Spain, it is necessary to highlight the value of renewables as intermediaries in the stability of prices and even in their reduction. And it is that when a few days ago a large part of the country was covered with snow and sheltered in their houses protecting themselves from the cold, it was wind energy that allowed that great demand for electricity not to suppose the final lurch to the pockets of the citizens.
According to data from the Asociación Empresarial Eólica (AEE) and the Red Eléctrica Española (REE), the average of the wind contribution on the dates between 8 and 11 January, during the storm Filomena as it passed through Spain, was 30.8% of the peninsular demand, reaching 47% of generation of the mix and at no time less than 20%. Thanks to this significant contribution from wind power, the price of electricity was not increased even further, so the high prices in the electricity market were not due to the low production of this energy at this time. In fact, in the hours in which wind power covered more than 38% of the demand, this is when the electricity market price was cheapest during the four days of the storm.
From Friday, January 8 to January 11, according to REE data, wind power generation was the main generation technology. And the fact is that the coverage of demand with wind energy never fell below 20% and reached 47% in full storm Filomena. On average, wind power contributed 30.8% to the coverage of peninsular demand during the dates of January 8 to 11.
Without exceptional wind generation during the four days (January 8-11), the average price of the electricity market would have been € 26.24 / MWh higher than the one that finally existed.
In this case, the main causes of the high prices in the electricity market were the exceptional increase in the demand for electricity and gas for heating (6.18% and 12.6% respectively compared to the same weekend last year), coupled with high prices of this fuel in the Spanish market (in the market spot Spanish was at € 52 / thermal MWh, when on Monday, January 4, it was still at € 27.83 / thermal MWh, due to the cold and a gas pipeline supply problem from Algeria), and in Asians (with the diversion of LNG ships to those markets), and the rise in the price of CO2 (which is at record levels, with an increase of 43.5% compared to the same period last year).
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