GENERATION 2024
Renewable electricity generation
Information based on provisional data as of January 2025
In 2024, renewable energy once again set a new record for annual generation.
Renewable electricity generation in the Spanish electricity system increased by 10.3% in 2024 compared to the previous year, setting an all-time high of 148,999 GWh. The share of electricity generation from renewable energies in the national mix reached a new all-time high. Additionally, it became the majority share for the second time in history, with a share of 56.8% compared to 51.2% in 2023. This year was defined by significant contributions from hydroelectric energy and particularly, solar photovoltaic energy, which reached record highs in both electricity generation and share of the national energy mix.
To enable the operation of an electricity system with such a high penetration of renewable energies under safe conditions, the control and supervision work carried out by Red Eléctrica de España's Renewable Energy Control Centre (CECRE) is essential.
The work of CECRE enabled the contribution of renewable energies to peninsular electricity generation to reach an all-time high in 2024 with a 59.0% share of electricity generation, 5.8 percentage points higher than the previous all-time high recorded in 2023, when renewables accounted for 53.2% of the peninsular energy mix. This higher share of renewable energy generation in 2024 is due to the 35.5% increase in hydroelectric electricity generation and 18.8% increase in solar photovoltaic electricity generation over the previous year, a consequence of weather conditions and the increase in installed capacity in the peninsular system.
Between February and October 2024, monthly renewable energy generation on the Peninsula reached its highest recorded levels to date, coinciding with an increase in hydroelectric and solar photovoltaic electricity generation. The highest increases in renewable energy took place during the second and third quarters of the year, with the highest growth occurring in February, with a value of 31.4%. March was the most renewable month in history, with electricity generation totalling 14,291 GWh. March also recorded the highest share of renewable technologies in the peninsular energy mix at 68.2%.
Finally, Wednesday, 17 January marked the highest daily renewable electricity generation on record, reaching 575,588 MWh, which accounted for 71.3% of the Peninsula’s daily generation.
New renewable electricity generation maximums in the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands electricity systems.
In the electricity system of the Balearic Islands, renewable technologies reached a historical maximum of annual electricity generation in 2024, with 655 GWh, 24.3% higher than renewable electricity generation in the previous year. 14.6% of electricity generation in the Balearic Islands' electricity system came from renewable sources, a new historical record that exceeds the previous one, set in 2023, by 3.2 percentage points.
During the months of 2024, renewable energy generation in the Balearic Islands exceeded the historical record on several occasions, reaching a new maximum in July with 76,080 MWh, 40.1% above the same month of the previous year. Similarly, the monthly renewable share in the Balearic Islands' generation mix broke its historical record several times during 2024, reaching a share of 19.5%, 3.5 percentage points higher than the previous maximum, recorded in April 2023.
2024 has also been a year of records in renewable electricity generation for the Canary Islands electricity system. Specifically, renewable generation in the Canary Islands was 8.6% higher in 2024 than in 2023, reaching an all-time annual high of 1,849 GWh. The share of this renewable energy generation in the Canary Islands’ electricity mix also beat the historical record, reaching a value of 20.8%.
At the monthly level, renewable energy generation in the Canary Islands surpassed all previous records in August of 2024, with a value of 257,082 MWh. In that same month, the share of renewable energy generation in the electricity mix of the Canary Islands also surpassed the historical record, reaching a value of 32.5%.
Annual evolution of renewable energy generation
Structure of renewable energy generation by type of power plant and autonomous community
Daily electricity generation in the Balearic Islands' electricity system also exceeded the previous all-time high for renewable energy generation, achieving a record 2,760 MWh on 5 June 2024, as well as for renewable share in the Balearic Islands' mix, with 23.6% on Sunday 21 April.
Maximum renewable energy generation
Summer: June-September.
In 2024, hydroelectric power plants on the Peninsula once again increased their rate of electricity generation
Hydroelectric power generation on the Peninsula in 2024 reached 34,908 GWh, marking a 35.5% increase compared to 2023. Its contribution to the peninsular generation structure stood at 14.0%, 3.7 percentage points higher than the previous year. In 2024, the total generated by hydroelectric power plants placed this technology as the fourth largest source of generation in the peninsular total.
The comparative graph of peninsular hydroelectric power generation 2023-2024 shows how, during 2024, hydroelectric generation was higher than during 2023 for practically the whole year, except in the months of November and December. The month in which hydroelectric generation recorded the greatest increase was April, with a growth of 158.9%. In contrast, the largest reduction in monthly hydroelectric generation was registered in December, when hydroelectric power plants generated 38.9% less than in the same month in 2023.
Monthly hydroelectric power generation in 2023-2024 compared to average generation
Maximum and minimum daily hydro coverage
In 2024, the producible hydroelectric index (maximum amount of electricity that could have been produced with the hydroelectric power contributions registered) reached a value of 35,160 GWh, 30.3% higher than that recorded in 2023, and 24.1% higher than the historical annual average value. Therefore, it can be concluded that 2024 has been a wet year as a whole, since the producible hydroelectric index, defined as the quotient between producible energy and average producible energy, reached a value of 1.24.
Daily producible hydraulic energy during 2024 compared to the historical average producible
Hydroelectric reserves were above the statistical average in 2024
The year 2024 was a wet year overall in terms of precipitation. It started with normal rainfall levels in January, which were followed by a wet February, with average precipitation values reaching 105% and 135% of the normal value for the month, respectively. Spring was overall normal in terms of precipitation, while summer was very wet, with values reaching approximately 117% of the normal level for these quarters in the 1991-2020 reference period. Autumn was wet as well, with October being the rainiest on record since 1961. On 29 October 2024, an extraordinary episode of intense rainfall affected the eastern part of the Peninsula. In contrast, November and December were classified as very dry months.
Throughout 2024, hydroelectric reserves remained above the statistical average (calculated based on the last twenty years). Reserves began the year above 50% of total capacity and continued to rise, reaching their annual peak of 76.5% in May, the highest level recorded since April 2014. In the following months, hydroelectric reserves started to decline, and from summer onwards, they stabilised around 50%. By 31 December 2024, Spain’s hydroelectric reservoirs held 52.3% of their total capacity, 1.4 percentage points higher than the previous year.
Annual evolution of total, annual, and hyper-annual hydroelectric reserves
Installed hydroelectric power capacity and reserves as of 31 December by peninsular hydrographic zone
In 2024, for the second consecutive year, wind power was the leading technology in the generation mix.
In 2024, the national generation fleet added over 1,200 MW of new wind power capacity. This increase in installed capacity contributed to wind power generation nationwide once again leading the energy mix for the second consecutive year, with 60,921 GWh and a share of 23.2%.
In the peninsular electricity system, annual wind power electricity generation in 2024 reached 59,512 GWh, a 3.0% decrease compared to the previous year. The largest decline occurred in the fourth quarter, when wind power generation was 15.4% lower than in the same period of 2023, with November registering the greatest drop, down 30.4% compared to the same month in 2023. In contrast, in February, June, July, and September, wind power generation exceeded that of 2023, with the highest monthly wind electricity generation recorded for each of these months (except July).
Regarding daily wind power generation, the historical record for peninsular wind electricity generation was broken on Thursday, 21 November, reaching 440,219 MWh, a 3.9% increase compared to the previous historical record set on Wednesday, 8 December 2021.
The high variability in wind power generation can be observed in the graph of maximum and minimum daily wind power coverage. Throughout 2024, daily electricity generation from wind power contributed to the generation mix, ranging from a minimum of 2.6% on 5 February to a maximum of 54.9% on 21 November.
Wind power was the technology with the highest share in the peninsular electricity generation structure for seven months in 2024, namely in January (25.7%), February (33.0%), March (28.9%), April (23.5%), October (27.6%), November (24.8%), and December (24.4%). In the total for the year 2024, wind power generation once again emerged as the leading technology in the peninsular energy mix, accounting for 24.0% of the total. This marks the fourth time in history that wind power has taken the top spot, following similar achievements in 2013 with a share of 21.2%, in 2021 with 24.2%, and in 2023 with 24.6%.
Maximum and minimum daily wind power coverage
Regarding the Canary Islands electricity system, its annual wind power generation also achieved a historical record with 1,408,742 MWh, a 2.6% increase compared to 2022. Additionally, August 2024 saw the highest monthly electricity generation from wind power in the Canary Islands with 210,632 MWh, 0.5% higher than the previous record achieved in July 2023.
During 2024, solar photovoltaic electricity generation once again reached historic production highs
Over the course of 2024, installed solar photovoltaic capacity was the technology that experienced the greatest increase within the Spanish electricity system, adding over 6,000 MW to the power generation fleet.
This momentum allowed solar photovoltaic electricity generation in 2024 to register maximums in the various electricity systems of the national territory. During 2024, solar photovoltaic generation in the peninsular electricity system increased by 18.8%, reaching 43,609 GWh, which represents a new annual electricity generation record. The annual participation of this technology in the peninsular mix also registered a maximum value, with a share of 17.6%, which means a growth of 2.8 percentage points compared to 2023, and occupied the third position in the peninsular generation structure for the first time in history, ahead of both hydroelectric power and combined cycle.
During 2024, except for March, monthly peninsular solar photovoltaic electricity generation each month was the highest recorded to date for those periods, with December reaching a 32.3% increase compared to the same month in 2023. Additionally, in May, it reached the highest share in the generation structure across the entire statistical series, with a value of 25.5%. In July, solar photovoltaic generation produced the highest monthly amount ever recorded in the peninsular electricity system, with 5,716 GWh.
On a daily basis, on Friday 12 July 2024, peninsular solar photovoltaic electricity generation reached an all-time high, with a value of 208,809 MWh, and on Friday 24 May it reached an all-time high in terms of representation in the peninsular energy mix, with 31.0%.
During the year 2024, the historical maximum of instantaneous photovoltaic generation power in the peninsular electricity system was beaten on several occasions, reaching a new historical record on Friday 12 July at 14:51 hours with a value of 19,977 MWh.
And lastly, on Saturday 25 May 2024 at 12:18, a new historical maximum of solar photovoltaic generation with respect to demand was reached in the peninsular electricity system, with a value of 78.4%.
Maximum and minimum daily solar coverage
During 2024, solar photovoltaic electricity generation in the Balearic Islands grew by 29.8% compared to the previous year and reached its historical record in terms of annual production, with 506,947 MWh. This technology also surpassed its maximum share in the generation structure of the Balearic Islands, representing 11.3% of annual electricity generation (8.4% in 2023) and for the first time, took second place in the mix, overtaking gas turbine generation.
In July 2024, solar photovoltaic facilities in the Balearic Islands produced the highest monthly amount of energy recorded to date, with a value of 60,169 MWh. In May, these installations beat their historical maximum share in the generation structure, with 16.1% of the total for the Balearic Islands.
Additionally, on Friday 10 May 2024, solar photovoltaic generation in the Balearic Islands reached an all-time high for daily electricity generation, with 2,210 MWh, and on Sunday 21 April it set a record for daily participation in the Balearic Islands' electricity mix, with 20.0%.
On Wednesday 5 June at 13:25, a new all-time high was reached for instantaneous solar photovoltaic generation in the Balearic Islands electricity system, with a value of 281.3 MW, and on Friday 8 March at 12:50, it set a new record for solar photovoltaic generation in relation to demand, with 47.1%.
Solar photovoltaic electricity generation in the Canary Islands in 2024 also beat its annual historical maximum, with 404,552 MWh, which represented 4.5% of the Canary Islands mix. In July 2024, solar photovoltaic generation produced 42,800 MWh, the highest amount since the start of statistical records in 2007. That same month, it reached the largest share in the generation structure, with 5.6%.
On Saturday 25 May 2024, solar photovoltaic reached its highest daily value of participation in the generation structure of the Canary Islands, with 6.8%, and on Friday 5 July it registered an all-time high for daily photovoltaic electricity generation, with 1,593 MWh.
Electricity generation
Total electricity generation
Electricity generation
Non renewable electricity generation