Non renewable electricity generation

Non-renewable energy production structure broken down by autonomous community and type of power station

Utilisation rate of peninsular thermal power stations

Generation from coal-fired power stations registered its all-time low in February 2021

The peninsular coal-fired power stations in 2021 generated 4,941 GWh, which represented an increase of 3 % compared to the previous year. In line with the energy transition, this technology maintains a reduced presence in the generation mix with a share of only 2 % of all mainland generation.

During the first quarter of 2021, coal-fired production fell by 54.9 % compared to the same period of the previous year, and in February, with 177 GWh, it recorded the sharpest decrease of the year, 78.5 % lower than in February 2020, registering the lowest monthly production since records began. On the contrary, in the fourth quarter of the year, coal-fired power stations increased their production by 130.3 % and in December it increased 224.8 % due to the fact that December of the previous year was the second lowest record of coal-fired production registered to date.

The challenges of decarbonisation set by the European Union with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions have meant that coal production, which is more polluting than other technologies, maintains a reduced share in the energy mix, representing 2 % of total generation in 2021. In addition, in February, coal recorded the lowest monthly share since 1990 with 0.9 % of the peninsular generation mix.

There was also a repetition of the situation of a 'zero-day’ regarding coal in 2021, that is, an entire day without production using this fossil fuel, which occurred for the first time ever on 14 December 2019. Specifically, in 2021 between 23 and 25 of January the peninsular electricity system was without coal-fired generation for a consecutive period of 50.5 hours, a situation that occurred again between 30 January and 1 February on this occasion for a consecutive period of 54 hours when there was no production from coal-fired power stations on the mainland.

As a direct consequence, 31 January was also the day with the lowest emissions associated with peninsular electricity production since records began, with a total of 30,667 tCO2 equivalent, and February 2021 was the month in which CO2 equivalent emissions set all all-time minimum value in the peninsular electricity system, with a 23.2 % decrease compared to the previous monthly minimum recorded in April 2020.

The coal utilisation rate in 2021 was 41 %, up from 14.6 % the previous year.

The closure of units 1 and 2 of the Alcudia power station and the limitation of the operating hours of groups 3 and 4 led to a major change in the generation mix in the Balearic Islands, due to the fact that during the first 8 months of 2020 the Balearic Islands' system did not produce electricity with coal and in 2021 coal-fired generation was only used in the months of June and July.

As a result, coal-fired generation in the Balearic Islands in 2021 fell by 79.9 %, reaching an all-time low of 44 GWh. The share of coal in the Balearic Islands’ generation mix was only 1 %, while in 2019 this technology was responsible for almost half of the production in the Balearic Islands, as its share was 45.2 %. Coal is no longer the main source of generation in the archipelago, occupying the seventh position in the generation mix on the Balearic Islands.

In 2021, combined cycle power stations on the mainland reduced their output by 2 %

In line with the rest of the non-renewable technologies, combined cycle generation fell by 2 % in 2021. Its annual production was 37,581 GWh, which is similar to the amount produced in 2012.

In 2021, combined cycle production was lower than in 2020, especially during the first and third quarters of the year. In the month of February, combined cycle recorded the lowest monthly generation in 2021, while in contrast, in November these power stations produced 76.9 % more than in the same month of the previous year. In addition, on Tuesday 30 November 2021, the all-time record for combined cycle daily generation was broken with a value of 368,131 MWh and on the same day between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. combined cycle generation reached a new maximum hourly production value with 17,579 MWh.

The lower annual production of combined cycle power stations resulted in a reduction of their share in the energy generation mix of 0.8 percentage points, reaching a share of 15.2 % in the peninsular mix in 2021 (16 % in 2020). Despite this lower share, combined cycle was the third largest source of generation in the mix for the third consecutive year.

The utilisation rate in 2021 was 21.2 % (21.8 % in 2020).

In 2021, the combined cycle power stations of the Balearic Islands' electricity system generated 3,482 GWh, 44.4 % more than in 2020, registering the highest production level since 2007. This technology was the leading source of generation in the Islands’ generation mix, with a share of 75.1 %, which represented an increase of 6.5 percentage points compared to the previous year.

Among non-renewable energy technologies, nuclear generated a total of 54,041 GWh in 2021, 3.1 % less than the previous year. This drop occurred mainly during the first and last quarter of 2021, when nuclear production fell 6.2 % and 15.3 %, respectively. In February nuclear generation decreased by 10.8 % due to the operational unavailability of the Trillo power station, and in March the decrease was 6.6 %, coinciding with the unavailability of the Almaraz II power station, which started the work corresponding to its twenty-sixth refuelling. The sharpest decreases in nuclear production occurred in November (23.2 %) and December (25.6 %) due to the refuelling stoppages at the Ascó 1, Cofrentes and Almaraz I power stations.

As a consequence of this lower level of production, nuclear power stations were for the first time the second source of peninsular generation after ten consecutive years of having occupied the leading spot in the peninsular generation mix (in 2013 they shared the leading position with wind). In 2021, nuclear reached an overall share in peninsular generation of 21.9 % (23.3 % in 2020).

The utilisation rate (the ratio between actual production and the production that could have been achieved if the power stations had operated at their rated power for the entire time that they were available) was 97.5 %.

In 2021, the all-time minimum record of CO2 equivalent emissions associated with electricity generation was set.

In 2021, the energy transition process marked a new milestone towards an emission-free model by recording a historic low in CO2 equivalent emissions associated with national electricity generation: 35.9 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, 0.6 % less than in 2020 and 67.7 % below the emissions recorded in 2007.

This reduction in emissions is primarily due to the significant increase in the share of clean energy in the national energy mix. In 2021, renewable energy sources produced 46.7 % of national generation and technologies that do not emit CO2 equivalent accounted for 68.2 % of the national total.

In addition, the decrease in production from coal-fired and fuel/natural gas power stations in the national electricity system that took place during 2021 meant that CO2 equivalent emissions associated with these technologies were 0.4 % and 4.6 % lower, respectively, compared to 2020.

Looking at national data since 2007, February 2021 was the cleanest month in terms of CO2 emissions since records began with 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent and 31 January was the day with the lowest emissions associated with national electricity production, with a total of 42,995 tCO2 equivalent.

Emissions and CO2 eq emission factor associated with national electricity generation