Renewables account for 1.65% of Spain's GDP in 2022, study says

The renewable energy industry accounted for 1.65% of Spain’s GDP in 2022, contributing EUR 19.48 billion (USD 20.8bn) to the economy, a study on the macroeconomic impact of the sector said.

The total amount represented an increase of 16.8% year-on-year in current money, and doubled compared to six years ago, owing to a boost in installations, but also to higher energy sales prices, according to the 2022 study prepared by Deloitte for Spanish association of renewable energy companies APPA.

The sector’s overall results were driven in large part by two technologies, wind and solar photovoltaic, which accounted for 73% of the total direct contributions.

During 2022, Spain witnessed the installation of 1,658 MW of new wind power, 4,611 MW of grid-scale solar and 2,649 MW of solar self-consumption systems. As for other technologies, only solar thermal enjoyed a capacity boost, by 102 MW thermal. For nine years in a row, Spain added no new concentrated solar power (CSP) capacity, the study noted.

At 70,451 MW of total installed capacity, including large hydro, renewables accounted for 59% of Spain’s power generation complex at the end of 2022. Despite their larger chunk of the capacity pie, the share of renewables in the 2022 power production mix was 42.2%. Production from renewable sources dropped by 3.94% year-on-year to 116.6 TWh due to lower hydro output.

Other figures in the study show that renewables helped bring down day-ahead market prices by EUR 10.14 billion throughout 2022, enabling the system to save on average EUR 43.10 for each megawatt-hour purchased in the electricity pool. Additionally, more renewables helped to avoid the import of EUR 15.23 billion worth of fossil fuels and saved EUR 4.51 billion in CO2 rights.

Not all figures in the study sparked excitement. The renewable energy sector’s balance of trade tilted heavily in favour of imports, exhibiting a trade deficit of EUR 2.6 billion due to the gigawatt-scale solar deployment. Services, wind power and the rest of the technologies were net exporters, APPA and Deloitte’s study said.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.068)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!