Spain’s national grid ran entirely on renewable energy for a period of nine hours on April 16, covering 100% of peninsular electricity demand.
Renewable electricity production peaked between 12 pm and 1 pm, with wind, solar and hydro power breaking national records for participation in the grid mix.
Just five days later, on April 21, solar alone accounted for 61% of the grid mix during the midday peak hour – another record.
According to Spain’s Red Eléctrica, renewable energy made up 64.3% of the national grid mix across April. Meanwhile, technologies that do not emit CO₂ contributed 78.9% of total power production.
Wind led the way at 21.6% of generation, followed by solar at 20.1% and hydraulic at 19.4%.
Storage technologies also played a crucial role, integrating 990 GWh of renewable electricity into the system for later use. Meanwhile, Spain exported 1,081 GWh of power to neighbouring countries.
How Spain’s national media reacted
The data quickly spread across Spanish media. El País confirmed that for nine consecutive hours – between 10am and 7pm – renewable generation covered 100% of peninsular demand.
While shorter periods of full renewable coverage have been recorded before, this was the first to last throughout a working day when consumption is typically higher.
The achievement comes as part of Spain’s long-term strategy to reach 100% renewable electricity generation by 2050.
“This is a huge achievement for renewable energy in Spain,” said Roman Mitchell, co-owner of Marblanc Solar and a certified survey engineer.
“I’m very happy to see Spain leading the pack. And this is exactly what they should be doing, as places like the Costa del Sol enjoy more sunshine hours each year than almost anywhere else in Europe.”
He added that Spain once gave solar a bad name with the so-called “sun tax” that penalised homeowners for producing their own electricity.
Thankfully, those laws were repealed in 2019, and since then the residential solar market has boomed.
Roman explained that competition and incentives have helped drive down solar panel prices from more than €2,000 two decades ago to around €100 today.
“Solar has sometimes been criticised for inconsistent generation,” said Adam Millington, co-owner and qualified electrician.
“At night it can’t produce, and in the daytime it sometimes overproduces and energy is wasted.”
“One of the biggest stories here is that Spain was able to store excess solar for later use, and even sell power abroad.”
Adam added that Marblanc Solar has seen clients eliminate electricity bills entirely by combining panels with battery storage, even while running power-hungry appliances like EV chargers and pool heaters.
One recent solar installation in Benahavís with 61 panels and 20.7 kWh of batteries is expected to save the owner more than €30,000.
These examples, he said, prove that solar makes sense on a national scale.
Now the challenge is showing homeowners that it also makes financial sense for households of all sizes across the Costa del Sol.
“At Marblanc Solar, we’re driven to show families that solar isn’t just good for the planet,” Millington said. “It’s good for their pocket too.”
You can see how we’re helping homeowners save money on solar by viewing our solar installations here.
