Total electricity generation
Information based on provisional data as of January 2023
The situation of the Spanish energy sector in 2022 has continued to grow, with an increase of 6.3 % in electricity generation with respect to the previous year, the highest value recorded to date since statistical series have been available.
In this context, electricity generation in the peninsular system, which represents around 95 % of total national generation, increased by 6.1 % in 2022, reaching 261,955 GWh. The most significant variations with respect to the previous year were recorded by combined cycle and solar photovoltaic power generation, which increased by 61.1 % and 32.9 %, respectively, while hydropower generation decreased by 39.7 %.
Electricity generation in the non-peninsular systems (14,360 GWh) grew by 9.5 % with respect to the previous year, with a 28.9 % increase in solar photovoltaic power. On the other hand, it is worth noting the decrease in cogeneration production, which was 37.9 % lower than in the previous year.
The Balearic Islands saw the largest increase in electricity generation
The annual production of electricity in the non-peninsular systems as a whole in 2022 reached 14,360 GWh, 9.5 % higher than in the previous year. The amount of electricity produced in the Balearic Islands system has increased for the second consecutive year, reaching 5,437 GWh in 2022, the highest value of Balearic generation since 2011, and 17.2 % more than the previous year. This is the highest production growth of all non-peninsular electricity systems in 2022.
Electricity production in the Canary Islands electricity system in 2022 has also increased for the second consecutive year, with a growth of 5.7 % over the previous year, reaching 8,531 GWh.
Instead, in Ceuta and Melilla, production has decreased in both cases for the fourth consecutive year, by 0.8 % and 4.4 %, respectively.
National electricity generation
GWh - %
Other renewables: Include biogas, biomass, marine hydro, and geothermal.
Pumped storage: Pure pumped storage + estimate of mixed pumped storage.
Combined cycle: Includes operation in open-cycle mode. The Canary Islands electricity system uses diesel as its main fuel.
Annual evolution of renewable energy generation
In terms of generation by type of energy in the national electricity system, renewable energies have reduced their production by 4.0 % in 2022, mainly as a result of lower hydro production. During 2022, the share of renewable production in the national mix was 42.2 %, compared to 46.7 % in 2021. On the other hand, non-renewable energies increased their share to 57.8 % (53.3 % in 2021).
Evolution of renewable and non-renewable generation
With regard to national CO2 eqiv. emission-free generation, in 2022 there was also a decrease of 1.7 %, and its share in the production structure stood at 63.3 %, while in 2021 it was 68.2 %.
Evolution of generation with or without CO2 eqiv. emissions
The progress of the autonomous communities towards the goal of the ecological transition continues
Among the most relevant aspects of electricity generation by autonomous communities in 2022, the following should be highlighted:
- Andalusia was, in 2022, the second community that produced the most in the national electricity system, representing 13.2 % of the total generation. Production from renewable technologies reached 45.9 % of the mix in Andalusia, with a total of 16,680 GWh, 4.1 % more than in 2021, and became the second region with the most green GWh produced in 2022, only overtaken by Castile and Leon.
- In Aragon, 75.0 % of electricity generation during 2022 came from renewable sources, driven largely by wind power. With a share of 50.0 %, it was the second Spanish community both in terms of the proportion of wind power generation within its energy mix and production from this technology (10,200 GWh).
Non-renewable generation has increased in Aragon by 17.2 % in 2022 due to the fact that combined cycle plants have produced three times more than in the previous year. - In Asturias, renewable generation decreased by 20.7 % in 2022 as a result of the 48.4 % decrease in hydropower production. On the contrary, there has been an increase in coal and combined cycle production of 18.3 % and 49.0 %, respectively.
- In Castile-La Mancha, 61.9 % of the energy generated last year was from renewable sources, with wind power, which generated 8,259 GWh, being the leading technology and accounting for 32.4 % of the electricity generated. Solar photovoltaic increased its production by 59.2 % compared to the previous year, making it the second community with the highest solar photovoltaic production, with a share of 21.4 % of the national total.
- In 2022, Castile and Leon continues to be the autonomous community with the highest renewable generation in the country: 20,744 GWh accounting for 89.7 % of the total production in the region, a historical maximum of participation since there have been records. Its coverage in the mix is the highest in Spain in 2022, which consolidates Castile and Leon's leadership in renewable energies in the country.
In 2022, wind power was the leading technology in the generation structure of Castile and Leon, contributing over half of the production mix (59.6 %). Thanks to this volume, it continues to be the community that produces the most electricity from wind power (13,793 GWh). - Catalonia was the community that generated the most in 2022, with 15.1 % of the total production of the Spanish electricity system. Nuclear is the leading technology in the Catalan mix, with a share of 57.6 %.
- Extremadura continues to be the leader in solar photovoltaic generation in 2022, with a production of 6,952 GWh, representing 24.9 % of the national total. This brings the share of green energy to 38.7 % in this community.
- In 2022, Galicia generated 64.8 % from renewable sources, with wind power as the first source of Galician generation with 43.4 %, the highest share in this community since records have been kept.
- Renewables in the Balearic Islands in 2022 produced 29.1 % more than in 2021 and beat their annual record for green energy, achieving a 7.4 % share of the total. Solar photovoltaic was the renewable technology that most increased its generation, registering 42.2 % more than in the previous year and surpassing the historical record of annual production. It also reached the highest participation in the Balearic generation mix with a 4.9 % share.
- The Canary Islands generated 6.3 % more renewable energy in 2022 than in 2021, driven by wind and solar photovoltaic generation, which reached historic highs in annual production with 1,368,748 MWh and 313,616 MWh, respectively.
These peaks achieved in the Canary Islands have allowed renewables to cover 20.1 % of the total, thus demonstrating the progress of the energy transition in the region.
Map of generation by autonomous communities
Pumped storage: 3,775,567 MWh.
Nuclear: 55,983,500 MWh.
Coal: 7,765,205 MWh.
Fuel + Gas: 0 MWh.
Diesel engines: 2,548,204 MWh.
Gas turbine: 657,473 MWh.
Steam turbine: 1,207,235 MWh.
Combined cycle: 68,137,547 MWh.
Hydro-wind: 22,881 MWh.
Wind: 61,175,592 MWh.
Solar photovoltaic: 27,864,342 MWh.
Solar thermal: 4,123,275 MWh.
Other renewables: 4,656,294 MWh.
Cogeneration: 17,757,670 MWh.
Non-renewable waste: 1,899,767 MWh.
Renewable waste: 877,708 MWh.
Total generation: 276,315,299 MWh.
Production structure by power station type and by autonomous communities
Solar: Includes solar photovoltaic and solar thermal.
Renewable and non-renewable production percentage by autonomous communities
Non-renewables: pumped storage, nuclear, coal, fuel/gas, combined cycle, cogeneration, and non-renewable waste.
Electricity generation
Installed capacity
Electricity generation
Renewable electricity generation