Spain has more green power than it can use

Spain’s government is having to think of ways to speed up the electrification of its economy to make full use of its intermittent oversupply of renewable power. Otherwise, when solar panels and wind turbines generate more than the country needs, prices fall so far that the return on investment for builders of green energy infrastructure falls too, and the transition risks grinding to a halt. Spain has doubled its installed wind capacity since 2008 and increased its solar capacity eight-fold, the BBC reports. The gas price spike following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted a broad fall in demand, and before that household savings during Covid were invested in rooftop panels, further boosting supply (and cutting bills). The FT recently quoted a resident of Arboleas in the south whose electricity bill is €4 a year.