State owned Spanish electricity transmission operator Red Electrica de Espana (REE) has calculated 780 MW of new solar PV capacity additions in the first half of 2020. Together with 446 MW installed by wind power during the reporting period, both the technologies have added 1,226 MW of new capacity to the system.
The largest capacity additions in the PV segment came online during this period thanks to Iberdrola's 500 MW solar power plant. A report by El Periodico Energia news portal referred to REE data to state that in the month of June 2020, 169 MW of new PV capacity was added.
As per the REE, solar PV power generation produced 1,792 GWh in June 2020, increasing its output by 92% on an annual basis. Its contribution to the generation mix, 9.2% of the total in June 2020 was a record share. Overall between January 2020 and June 2020, solar PV represented 6.1% of the country's total generation mix.
In 2019, annual solar PV additions of 3.97 GW AC/4.57 GW DC made the country the solar champion of Europe, taking its total installed PV capacity to 8.91 GW. With the H1/2020 data in, the country's cumulative installed solar PV capacity till the end of June 2020 reached 9.693 GW.
Renewables, especially solar and wind, have a bright future in Spain as the country aims to achieve 100% renewable energy goal for its electricity system by 2050. In order to achieve this, the state cabinet recently approved the Royal Decree-Law to remove barriers to massive deployment of renewables.