Spanish (natural) gas use seen rising 10.1% in 2008 (mitigating wind/hydro problems)

[phantom power]

My bold.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish gas consumption could rise 10.1 percent this year to meet increasing demand from electricity generators to offset the impact of a drought and variations in wind power, distributor Enagas said on Thursday.

(...)

Parts of Spain have had their driest winters since 1949 and hydroelectric generation in the first four months of the year fell by 48.5 percent from the same period in 2007.

(...)

Wind power is providing the mainstay of Spain's drive for renewables and wind parks now have an installed capacity of 15,000 megawatts, which is expected to rise to 20,000 by 2010.

Llarden recalled that output from wind turbines has recently varied by as much as 10,000 MW within two days, or the equivalent of 25 combined-cycle power stations. "It is the availability of gas which allows for renewables. We are supporting variations in wind and water, we're the back-up for the (electricity) system," he said.

http://africa.reuters.com/energyandoil/news/usn1B8308EA-1CF5-11DD-ACA9-553C34A97898.html?rpc=401&

[Dead_Parrot]

1. Oh, you nattering naybob you.

I'm sure they'll replacing it with flywheels any day now.

[phantom power]

2. No doubt. At which point I'll sell my SATC, and be rich.

And move to CO to grow bananas in my greenhouse.

[Dead_Parrot]

3. Yah! Hypercars all round! nt

[jpak]

4. Ummm - from the OP...

<snip>

Chairman Antonio Llarden told a gas industry convention that Enagas expected consumption to rise to 449,580 gigawatt-hours in 2008, on top of a 4.3 percent rise in 2007. "Our projections have risen for one simple reason: there's no water," Llarden said.

<end snip>

Wind power is **NOT** responsible for this...

[phantom power]

5. Yes, that is the hydro portion discussed in the article.

The other portion relating to wind is this:

Llarden recalled that output from wind turbines has recently varied by as much as 10,000 MW within two days, or the equivalent of 25 combined-cycle power stations. "It is the availability of gas which allows for renewables. We are supporting variations in wind and water, we're the back-up for the (electricity) system," he said.

Now, from the first and third sentences you can see he's pointing out (correctly) that wind power variability has to be compensated for. They're using gas for load balancing, and so it's requiring them to increase their gas usage. Mostly, I posted this because it is independent confirmation that once wind power gets to a certain level of use, its variability starts to induce additional and measurable external costs. Here, that external cost manifests as an increase in NG burning.

[Dead_Parrot]

6. Not having non-hydro baseload is exactly the cause of this

It's not like no-one saw it coming: They just dropped the ball.

I'm guessing Portugal is in the same situation.