Could Spain become Europe’s Energy Hub?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มิ.ย. 2024
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Once an economic underdog, Spain is now emerging as an European energy powerhouse. Amidst its robust economy and large renewables potentials, as well as strategic gas transit position from Africa, Spain is poised to revolutionise Europe's energy landscape. But can Europe ever truly move away from Russia?
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1 - www.ft.com/content/5367f98a-4...
2 - www.france24.com/en/europe/20...
3 - www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdat...
4 - www.phenomenalworld.org/analy...
5 - www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mcki...
6 - www.power-technology.com/data...
7 - www.phenomenalworld.org/analy...
8 - www.upstreamonline.com/energy...
00:00 - Introduction
00:50 - Spain's Economy
01:44 - Spain as a Gas State
02:23 - Spain as a Renewables Superpower
03:44 - Wind
04:05 - Hydropower
07:32 - Sponsored Content
As a Spaniard, I'm really hoping our government plays its cards right. I'm tired of politicians making bad decisions because of their lack of economic skills.
Remember when they put a tax on the sun lol, they set solar energy development back for years
Im' British and hope you guys succeed! You can become an energy super power though Solar alone for sure, because there is just so much empty land in Spain!
te recuerdo que los que pusieron el impuesto al sol son los mismos que ahora han salido con mayoria
Then you must hope that your government does not phase out nuclear, and try to build a ridiculously complicated scheme of wind/solar + hydrogen, just to be "climate-friendly". Nuclear is the ONLY viable option for the world at the moment. Hydrogen + wind/solar is essentially the same as a lower living standard for no CO2 gain.
@@auricanmajere6236 por eso ha dicho políticos en general y no el último gobierno en particular. Nuestra clase política está llena de bonobos.
Spain has so much potential and so much space for solar as well. I'm definitely rooting for Spain
Good point, however, the wind and solar stations need to be constructed from somewhere using various resources… that’s another story…
@@JenniferA886Electricity loses power when transmitted over long distances. Not the solution, EU shot itself in the foot over the Russian sanctions. They will be burning power pols to keep warm this coming Winter. They only survived because they filled their reserves with Russian gas last Winter and bought LNG from US at 4 times the price. Jobs lost, people want be able to afford heating having a choice of food or heating. Those rats on high incomes will survive. Many will die. The EU arrogant tools outsmarted themselves this time. Drinking Champagne in Moscow has not worked out!
Bot
@@Thepaleking1920 I am not a bot, I am very much alive indeed!
@@JETSETGIRLZ that's what a bot that's trying to gaslight people would say. Begone bot
I'd love to see those solar farms going the agrivoltaics route, dual land use, with the shade helping reduce water consumption for crops
Since 74% of Spain is at risk of desertification this would be an intelligent and necessary 2x1.
@@random-xh5rq
But it would also make sense to plant forests on a massive scale to absorb CO2 from the air, which is something we're going to have to do anyway, there must be drought resistant trees available, neem, cork oak, etc.
That's a good call for nuclear power.
@@yamchastruly big forests ahah
@@yamchaswhat does that have to do with nuclear? There's a lot of land in Spain. Enough for solar farms _and_ new miracle forests!
@@random-xh5rq That figure includes the Canary Islands which is nearer Africa than Europe. Thus this is a good illustration you can make headline figures to suit your message.
For once, a story about Spain is not a great national embarasment
Spain had a sun tax ffs, the fact that the immense solar potential of Spain hasn´t ALREADY been used is embarissing
The embarrassment is that they are not 100% on solar energy yet. The government fumbled a lot with the solar tax before.
Yeah Britain become the Spain of the eu
do not worry friend, I’m sure our politicians will try their best to turn this opportunity into an embarrassment
I love how you can read a conditioned reflex in that comment where you glimps the word 'Spain' in international news media and reflexively go "oh god what did we do THIS TIME?" 😅
I've spent a year in Spain.. just came back to Switzerland. My impression is that it has quite an economic momentum right now. It's quite dynamic I'd say. It reminds me of the UK in the 2010's somehow. Also incredible high influx of young workers from the Hispanic sphere. 👍
Nevertheless, the righ wing parties claim that our country is been under a disable and icompetent goverment.
A good thing.
@@ericjohnson7234 I agree
"UK in the 2010s" for their sake I hope not. The 2010s was a decade of decline and underinvestment for the UK that's really coming to a head now.
@@KrlKngMrtssnSpain can easily support a population of 50M+ if the economy rebounds.
One important point is that cheap energy means cheaper production, and cheaper production means companies opening factories in the country. Pretty much what happened with the countries that took advantage of the cheap Russian gas, but in this case with local production, so safer. No one is going to move their factories to Spain for the energy price (I think) but new ones could consider it important.
renuables will always be more expensive. So nope
@@alexlehrersh9951 they're not, gas is expensive, they're the cheapest of the mix and when enough is produced electricity is very cheap.
@@alexlehrersh9951 This is famously completely the opposite of the truth
@@alexlehrersh9951 Renewables are already the cheapest source of energy now.
@@arandombard1197If that was remotely true than a massive government push for renewables would be unnecessary. Countries that have gone heavy into renewables like Germany have the highest energy costs. Countries like China have the lowest electricity costs because they rely on coal.
4:21 Norway is not a part of the EU. It's a part of Europe, but not of the EU.
They are part of the internal market, pay for the budget and follow the majority of EU laws. They're an EU country in all but name.
and neither is Switzerland, which wasn't mentioned as being a part of the EU but was shown in the same picture.
@@im0rtalpunk In reality CH is about 50% EU member or even more.
Go! Go! Spain!!!💪😎
Un abrazo caliente desde Rumania!!🫶✌️❤
I live in Spain and we have solar panels in the roof of my building and a battery inside our flat. So we don't use that much energy that we don't produce ourselves. Solar during the day and the battery at night makes the electricity bill to be almost zero.
panels and battery cost how much? or does the gov provide them free? 5kw system?
same in Portugal
@@darwinjina the government give you some tax cuts for some time (in my case and city hall I get a big discount in my house tax that is paid yearly) and also there is a European fund where they pay for part of it. You have to put a lot of money upfront but once is set up you don't have to worry. Right now we are experiencing a heat wave in Spain and I have the AC running (not super strong may I add) and it doesn't cost a thing. Not only that I am still producing more than I am actually using so that energy is going to the Spanish grid. And at night the battery kicks in and I don't have to worry about it either. I should also say that most people decide not to buy the battery since it is very very expensive.
@@ANDIBO987 yea, lots of upfront cost. It's like paying someone for many of years of electricity now and expecting the equipment and their maintenance outlasts that cost. lol. (In my case, most of my solar farm costs are to Chinese companies. lol)
@@darwinjina I think it comes down to not be at the mercy of the electricity company doing what they want with the price. Since we can't know how much more that cost is going to go up I can use it without worrying about it too much
Spain has tried to become an energy leader in Europe but France has done its best to avoid it. The green hydrogen pipeline should've been a series of gas pipelines that would've helped overcome the gas price surge after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They have also blocked many power grid connections across the Pyrenees as they want to keep powering Europe with their nuclear plants.
Yep and there is nothing to do against. It makes perfectly sense for them to stay the first energy producer in Europe with a clean energy regarding emissions.
France has a better position located in Central EU. Spain is too far west of center. Long distances to market and a big mountain range to cross. We also do not produce any of our own oil and gas, but import 100%. Even Italy has the same import problem, but a better location, more centrally located yo EU and midway between central EU and North African gas. Italy could easily reach west, north and east EU countries.
If you have to import by pipeline, Spain's connection to N Africa could help, but Italy is more central and also has N Africa connections. 30/70 to 40/60% ?? Not 50/50. Both could be the "strategic choice". If you import by LNG Ocean tanker, then just build an LNG offload port at the closest port to your ultimate destination.
but GREEN HYDROGENE IS JUST A PHANTASM from now.
"too far west" dude europe is tiny, distances don't matter as much as other places
Classic French behaviour. Try to block the Iberian peninsula from everything to stay relevant. There was a similar case recently with high speed trains.
That's France for you guys. With neighbours like these, who needs enemies?
That'd be great for Spain and also for the EU as a whole. However, I don't think France will be very collaborative in connecting Spain with the rest of the continent, since this would get in the way of its own energy industry and its bet for nuclear. Let's hope for the best 🍀
I think the government here is going for "it's inevitable"... which, yeah it likely is
Renewables are a boondooggle. France isn't "betting" on nuclear, France is being the only rational actor in western europe when it comes to energy policy.
This is literally agreed upon by both EU and UN panels on Green Energy and sustainability. The scientists and engineers have spoken, time and time again, and have *obviously* concluded that nuclear is the only way forward if we want to have ANY chance of reducing or stopping climate change.
It is braindead media and politicians that fail to see this, not the professional community.
At least France now allowed the H2 pipeline from Spain to other EU countries. But Spain needs to boost solar a lot more. 25GW is nice, but considering Germany will add more than 12 GW just this year and plans to add 200GW until 2030, there is a lot more potential in Spain.
France and Spain are already connected with powerlines.
Why would connecting H2 pipeline be bad for france nuclear industry anyway. H2 will be use mainly in trucks and other large vehicles.
10GW in Spain is far superior reliability than 10GW in Germany.@@tobiwan001
Anyone who visits The Canary Islands cannot but be impressed with the thousands of wind turbines.
Well done Spain.
And all the solar thermies that heat the water for the tourists. How much have they saved in energy bills since installing those? I have absolutely no doubt that Spain is on the right path and will become Europe's energy hub in future.
Top of the class to G Canaria.
Ireland is the Saudi Arabia of wind.
but not producing to its capacity.
Spain is so underrated. We dont really hear anything about it in Germany :/
Except for colleges coming back from vacation, one of those things you don't want to hear about.
Mallorca, paella ole ole; sure as hell it rings a bell
Because there has been a great lack of initiative in the international sphere , with minor exceptions, for the last 20 years or so. Specially under Mariano Rajoy, whose strategy for everything was to wait and do the bare minimum if there was no other option, something I believe you are familiar with in Germany.
Now the current president at least knows how to speak english and is more involved in the EU and international relations, and sometimes even has the initiative,
What is a Spain??
@@random-xh5rq Rajoy was a total disgrace. He sold us to Merkel.
I think is useful to know that the spanish population is around 45 million, half that of germany give or take, so you need to acknowledge that fact when the total energy production or consumption is compared in charts
Spain is also far more sunny tho
48 million already
I mean, look at what The Netherlands produces from solar
@pokemonfreaky100 These are some minmax efficiency psychos, you cant compare
Plus a warmer country like Spain probably needs less energy given much less need for heating than has Germany
(though perhaps more need for air conditioning).
And countries that have large scale agriculture and/or heavy industry need more energy
just to power their economy.
I really like and enjoy your programs and watch them on a regular base. Just one thing, could you please use diagrams that have proper nomenclatura on it? I sometimes stop the videos to look at the diagrams in more detail and it really bugs me when the axis are not labeled and there is no indication on the data set whatsoever. And you point out yourself many times in your videos how important it is to look at data carefully 🙂Keep up the great work!!!
Been traveling a lot across Spain over the past year. I came across great infrastructure in the form of trains and roads, civic pride in the towns (clean and litter free) and a sense of creativity and professionalism in the service sector when compared to recent times in the UK. Definitely on the Up. Lots of Wind farms too, Solar is much underused and could be better. Much potential in BEVs too and hope they don't screw that up...
Yes for me on BALANCE spain is the best COUNTRY in the world.. but have you been to canada real ?? Shocking
As a German I would love to see that. Hopefully all EU countrys become strong Asap. Because together we have also way more gepolitical power. And that should be a nice goal to reach.
Yeah! Love from Spain
Meanwhile everything in Germany is deteriorating...
Nah it is a bit pessmistic. You can't always win . And besides there is a war in the neighbourhood and we kickt rusian gas. It was clear that it will cost us. But now we should work for a better future and more EU energy solutions.
Thanks . Love from Germany 🤗
@@stielimusterman3066 TSMC doesn't seem to mind it though
It would be great if we get a similar video with Greece as a potential energy hub as it is quite heavily invested in atm by Europe and other countries such as Israel and Egypt. Spain being the hub in the Southwest and Greece in the Southeast.
Greece is also adding electricity connectivity with Egypt, not just natural gas. Moreover they are building massive solar and wind farms as well.
Whats special about greece, do they also have more sun or wind? Or is it cause machines work better there cause of all the greece....😂 im hilarious i know
@@M3h3ndr3 This is important for Europe's energy autonomy. Spain, Italy and Greece can utilise not only their own wind and solar power but also North Africa's. It's not about natural gas anymore. Diversification is key and the countries of the south... mocked for years... are in a position to change the course of Europe away from Russia and towards 0 emissions.
If you sort EU countries by median solar PV potential, Greece comes in 3rd place, with Spain and Portugal in first and second place respectively. In 4th and 5th place are Italy and Bulgaria respectively.
@@querch1066Greece is actually working on a project with Egypt importing Solar Energy via an undersea cable, that has high interest from the EU. It's like @dichaos said. It's not only about what southern Europe can offer, it's what they can also bring from nearby northern African states and in Greece's case also from nearby middle Eastern countries.
It would be indeed nice if power shifted in part from Germany to Southern Europe and Spain in particular. The EU is currently dominated by Germany and supervised by Northern European states. The shift that is currently happening is that towards Eastern Europe.
A bigger role for Spain in the Union would bring more balance in the decision making.
As a German i don't feel much from the Super Power we have😅. It is more we are slowed down by Hungary or Poland . Please don't be angry we love you folks but the politics is really stressful.
Hä
Since when is it balance when all the leading crountries have leftist goverments?????????
Wrong,
Germany doesn’t dominate the European Union. The EU operates through a system of collaboration and shared decision-making among its member states, rather than being dominated by any single country, including Germany.
@@Pointi69 Its the other way arounf since our goverments wants to press anti-cosnervatives poöocies of others other state must defend the good being of their peole
It's not Germany, but German *companies* that are actual agents here
Pretty sure Norway are not in the EU so it's third most hydro capacity in the EU. Forth most in EEA...
True. I think it slipped through because norway has so many economic agreements with the EU including being part of the European Energy Network. But it is a valid correction.
Thanks for the great videos !
A small note - I think the units of the wind graph at 4:00 should be in GW as opposed to MW
And I think it's for onshore only? UK has 28 GW in total, 14 GW onshore
I think the graph at 4:00 needs to be corrected to GW if you are speaking about total capacity - if those numbers are MW then there is almost no wind power anywhere.
I have feeling, vloggers make sometimes intentionally mistakes, to reap a bigger crop of comments.
Much luck to the Spanish hermanos' economy, great potential.
not with the actual politicians
4:44 I mean it can do that but much more critically important is that it can act as a flexible backup, something that for example nuclear cannot.
Great news coming from Spain, good luck with the new venture 👍🏼
Spain is a very well liked country in Latin America that has the cheapest clean energy in the world and therefore the cheapest green hydrogen. So what is not being produced in Spain can be imported and sold to Europe like the do with oil nowadays. So Spain indeed can!
Lol Spain steals energy , and meddle with former colonial countries.
They still think they own us.The surplus of gas comes from AMERICA ( note: AMERICA is not the illegal occuaption of Canada and USA).
These evildoers behave like typical Europeans 👹.
🇲🇽🇷🇺
"Liked", as a family, sometimes there's pure hatred, but no outsider can talk shit about family, only family itself.
Portugal: am I a joke to you?
Seriously though, still taking into account the size difference, you can't unplug Portugal from this. Both countries have their electrical distribution networks intertwined. Also it's not about Portugal and Spain invest in connecting to France at all. France, for decades, blocked any attempts of the Iberian Peninsula from linking to the rest of Europe. Only after the Ukrainian invasion did France concede a bit, but arguably not enough
As a German, I can't tell you how much I'd rather pay for Spanish wind power than for Russian gas!
I just watched a video today before this one about what Germany is doing to become more sustainable, it was from 2021. It said that Germany intended to decrease its coal use by importing more natural gas from Russia (because natural gas is a bit "cleaner" than coal). It didn't age well, did it?
I don’t think so, bro😂
@@user-qk5jq4uw8y you don't think what?
This is brilliant news for Spain, The EU and whole of Europe.
When you see the wind capacity for the UK then realise half of it is in Scotland (or offshore) it becomes painfully obvious the UK Government isn't serious about renewables as they don't want to upset NIMBYs in England, it would cost them too many votes.
The tories love renewables. Most of these wind turbines and solar farms are built on land belonging to the gentry and royals. Renewables have been responsible for one of the biggest transfers of wealth since the industrial revolution. Us proles have to pay for them with increased energy costs and taxes.
Compare to UK
No, it's because it's windier in Scotland and population density is lower. Offshore wind is also more reliable and more powerful. If anything, the UK leads the world in offshore wind power.
The UK has the best climate for offshore wind power, it just needs to develop the deep sea turbines which will give it "nearly" continuous power!?!
Why would anyone build wind farms on land, when they can be built offshore, where they produce more electricity and also more consistently, because offthore, there are more wind hours in a year.
5:10 you can also use water and dual purpose motors to creat water batteries that pump water up when there is energy and let it go through turbines when energy is low
Good for them :)
Hope it will help their economy somewhat.
-from Netherlands
I also hope the Netherlands can recover from it's dire situation.
Hope you guys lower inflation so you don't slip into recession 🫡
@@marneus what is this dire situation you speak of?
i hope netherland back to its righful ruler, Spain
@@user-fi2fk2ei7oThat’s a good joke ngl
@5:45 gotta respect Norway of all European nations, for being the largest renewable energy-producing nation in the continent.
We can't really take credit for that: Lots of rain+lots of mountains=lots of high elevation rivers. Lots of high elevation rivers=lots of hydroelectric power. All we have to do is thank Mother Nature for her generous gifts. ^_^
You mean the Al father Odin*** thank you very much, and don’t forget the smart sexy natives.
electricity doesn't transport that well on long distances.
Just replace tiles on every house with affordable solar pannel in form of a tile
The whole iberian peninsula -- not just Spain -- has great potential in feeding the rest of Europe with energy thanks to their easier access to gas and similar resources from Africa and even North America to some extent.
Unfortunately, France has always been particularly keen on roadblocking most projects that would connect the peninsula to the rest of the continent, for reasons that suspiciously always sound more political than anything else.
Well unlike Spain, France does not have large parts of its territory laying desert. Settlements are scattered everywhere, and building important pipe routes or continental cable connections is going to be a bother to many people.
@@texanplayer7651
Yeah well, somehow, l don't think creating connecting pipelines *_through a mountain range_* is going to bother many people or their lands.
@@texanplayer7651 same could literally said with roads. And there u go
My mother works in installing solar power plants here in Spain.
Hope everything talked about in this video goes according to plan. Regardless of politicians.
I did not expect to find the topic of an assignment I've been working on with a group for the last half a year like this here. There's an issue with hydrogen that the video did not adress, which is that hydrogen is made from the electrolysis of water. Spain does not happen to have that in great excess, and any extra use for energy purposes may cause a bit of resistance, to put it mildly. Still, the extra electricity could be used to power desalination plants, but that's yet another energy intensive process. (And expensive too)
you know that one of the rivers with the most volume of water in Europe runs through Spain?? with 650 m³/s Spain as problems in the South and centre, but the northern peninsula does have more than enough rain for Hydrogen generation
1kg of H2 stores 35kWh, that needs 9kg de agua. Just with a small swimming pool of 36m3, we can get 4000kg de H2 storing 140MWh. I do not think water is a serious limitation here.
I consider more important the fact that storing energy in H2 is a process whose efficency is only around 60% while hydraulic storage (pumping up) can achieve more that 80% efficiency in electricity storage.
I think the solution should come from a combination of energy storage technologies, a smart grid to tune comsumption and a free market that incentives to invest in what it is really needed. Stop incentivicing the gas by the badly named gas cap.
@@AntonioAzA yes... Note hidrogen, will have use cases for industrial process where currently we burn hidrocarbons, plus its portable.
H2 has many problems. It is low heat content. Difficult to compress, so storage and transport is expensive. But, it can be made, therefore it is a renewable source. That's its biggest advantage.
Great video!!!!! I think that Spain should investigate more in printed solar films. I think tis is the solution for countries that are too "hot". Perforated solar filmes are very cheap to produce and one printing machine can almost produce solar films that replace a nuclear power station every month.
what is the purpose of printed solar films? are you hoping that panels will become smaller?
Good content. Too ready. Keep going man.
In Portugal when there is overproduction of renewal energy, a few damms have a system to use that energy to pump back the water, this way damms also work like a battery.
Hydrogen when made with electricity is more like a battery then a fuel, because all the energy you get out of it you have to put in (and a bit more for the systems in-efficiencies).
The inefficiencies are very high though . With the best available technology right now ( which aren’t likely to significantly improve in efficiency due to the physics involved ) only 25-30% of input energy is actually used , the rest is wasted during PEM electrolysis , for compressing the hydrogen gas and to turn it back to electricity in hydrogen fuel cells .Batteries have an efficiency of 70% . It’s even worse when looking at cost since there is a lot of expensive machinery involved , one KW of Hydrogen costs 8 times as much as Grid power . I would suggest watching the real engineering video on hydrogen for a deeper analysis.
Spain, Italy and Greece could power nearby countries with their solar potential, while Denmark, Nederlands, Belgium and Germany with their wind potential. But to distribute all this energy we need to build a lot of energy connections allover Europe in order to create a European grid that could be indipendent from other superpowers (like Russia). Europe should invest in this as early as possible
Southern Europe also has a lot of wind potential. Right now around 35-40% of the energy in my region (Navarre, Spain) comes from wind farms. Spain overall is currently the 2nd largest wind power producer in Europe and 5th in the world.
But yes, I agree with the rest. Europe needs a strong, unified energy network to remain as stable as possible. Unfortunately many national interests are still at play that hinder these advancements.
Cool video! Cheers from France.
Tbh, it would be interesting to witness Spain go full solarpunk.
Well as a latin american with a bunch of Spanish friends... i want to say to all Spaniards
I know you don't brag or praise you that much when it comes to your country (except maybe when comparing it to France)
But keep it up buddies, i know you'll rule the house one day ^^
And you know we'll always count with you. Europeans are our friends, allies, business partners, but Latin America and Portugal are family to us.
As a lover of history i am soo excited to see Spain become more relevant on the world stage. France, Britain, and Germany have been in the like light long enough 😅. Now if we can just figure out something for the Italians to do...
Apparently Italy exports a lot of pharmaceuticals
along with exporting a lot of sophisticated technical equipment,
it's other main export.
Not what people would have assumed.
This
Italy could just copy the Spanish recipe for renewables, it even has the advantage of better connectivity with other countries.
The problem with Spain is that we don't know how to sell ourselves. Primarily due to three reasons:
1.- We have a misguided idea that good work attracts attention by itself, without needing to do any "marketing work", so to speak.
2.- We have an inferiority complex towards other countries. If you ever got the opposite impression by interacting with Spaniards, trust me, it's all an act. The second foreigners are no longer listening, we go back to believing Spain is a third world country poorly pretending to be otherwise ("Españistán" anyone?).
3- We have a very bad case of Crab Mentality. Look it up.
@@opiskeleahkerasti2505yes agree, better geographical position. But renewable investment in Italy is actually proceeding incredibly slowly, even though Italy also has vast areas of empty countryside (for example much of the interior of Sicily and Sardinia). Never underestimate Italian bureaucracy 😂😂
5:37 One thing that is misunderstood about nuclear power in Spain is that the nuclear plants we have have already overshot their life expectancy. And the private companies that are currently running them and own them don't want to do the investment and maintenance necessary to have them open.
It's not as black or white as saying the current PM doesn't want them - they're unwilling to do them, as they're not really renewable sources, but it doesn't mean private companies cannot develop it by themselves. But if they want money, Spain's government isn't willing to invest on that area.
The installed wind power numbers should also be GW instead of MW
Spain during the day in summer and France at night and during winter. That'd work.
For now. Let's not forget some things: When France is managed in a retarded way, even nuclear reactors won't help shit. Also, solar panels still generate energy during cloudy/cold days and could also do so during the night (well....maybe not enough to even mention it, true, but still....)
What happened recently with France selling energy to EU scamming companies could happen again. That's where Germany's autority and reliability should come in action.
Still waiting for it. Waiting since a loooong time. Maybe they got lost in the Ardennes this time? Their old maps would have come in handy....
What?
Well, solar and wind produce too little at night and during winter as they rely on solar energy input, which is diminished during night and winter @@ColoringAHouse
At 4:23 you refer to Norway as being part of the EU, which is not the case.
As long as people remember that it will take a mix, and if people strategize where they want to encourage the bulk of their production, we can enjoy a green transition. Solar is reliable in Spain to do particular work during the day, and something else needs to be relied upon to power homes at night.
As someone who works in the electricity sector I find it funny that more and more solar is being built with no storage, it is causing negative prices which Netherlands seems to have almost every weekend during the summer. Baseload also doesn't work like that at all, it can't be used just at night when the sun isn't shining, nuclear plants take like a full day to rampup or rampdown meaning that the grid will have too much power on sunny days and then in the evening will not have nearly enough, hence why gas plants are needed for a while until batteries are big enough.
Glad to see this topic on the channel again. Spain needs to play its cards right: invest, as they are already doing, and also secure and increase its connections with France, who seems very reticent to say the least. This topic is as much of "European Autonomy" as the military: France needs to be pressured to agree with the full extent of their own idea (which is good for the EU).
If France does not change from blocker to supporter, the true potential energy hub will be wasted, which is terrible for Spain, France and Europe in general.
France will never change, bypass them, the UK has a solar plant in Morocco!?!
The issue is France sees Iberia as its sphere of influence. And that means making sure they're kept down so they won't challenge their masters. Especially when Spain is far more German-aligned, meaning if it rises as it would without France's sabotage, it would be awful for France.
France doesn’t need Spain energy. France has plenty of nuclear energy and is already the first exporter of energy in the EU.
@@walideg5304 yeah but the last two years France has been a net importer of Spanish energy. I'll make it easier so you can understand. Spain sells more energy to France (gas and electricity mainly) than the other way around.
@@jonayz8655 only during a year because of exceptional events such as exceptional maintenance and postponed maintenance due to Covid. French nuclear is back and already first net exporter of energy in Europe. No need of Spain.
Nice to hear there is progress. Spain and Italy have the most potential in solar and wind with offshore. Britain with offshore wind, France is a mixed bag. Germany just does it anyways. If the big countries get on track like Spain, we will be in a way better situation in 2030.
Wind is trash solar and nuclear is where it at
The UK has the best climate for wind but one of the worst for solar, nearly all new houses in the UK are fitted with solar and heat pumps, retro fitting is prohibitively expensive!?!
@@thomasherrin6798 yes industrial solar makes little sense in Uk but modern and later gen solan panels can produce 'some' amt even in less sunny days. But big solar farms is where Spain can really Speed ahead. With more efficient CSP and solar cell advancement it has the potential to renew older solar parks. France, despite having large solar and huge offshore wind potential, will not really achieve I believe due to farmers and fisheries industry.
Portugal also has a lot of potential and we are investing in the first Green hydrogen energia project. The brits are also making groundbreaking discoveries in the area of nuclear fusion applied to energy production. Honestly Southern europe (Portugal/Spain/Italy/Greece) can become major players in the EU in the future, we just need to play our cards right.
@@tomasrodrigues7504 Portugal has huge potential of natural gas in its vast EEZ and offshore basins. Unfortunately your political system and energy policies have no vision to attract investment in the same.
Just a couple of notes to add both information and thoughts to this great article.
Nowadays may not be the most promising option due to some failed projects, but thermal energy storage would have the potential to produce cheap energy during night and cloudy days if research money pay attention to this fact (some actual research projects in this field seem to be promising, but batteries and hydrogen are the popular options). Then, hybrid PV and thermal power plants could bring stability to the energy grid, helping hydroelectrics (do not forget that not all hydroelectric power plants have the potential to store energy coming from the grid, only those that implement pumped-storage).
I am not an expert in nuclear energy, but afaik I think that nuclear is unable to produce energy on demand. This is a fantastic baseline power production alternative (without taking into consideration managing nuclear wastes, for which Spain is a good example about how underestimated is the cost of dealing with them), but I think that a nuclear power plant cannot be quickly and easily turn on and off (thermal storage could help in this case too, as some USA projects are proposing, if I remember correctly).
That part could not be very popular, but hydrogen does not look very promising for energy production, neither even for storage, just for exporting energy from one place to another avoiding grid voltage drops. Mainly because of its high cost and low efficiency.
Good video, One detail, hydropower is not baseload (i.e. producing the same the whole time, like nuclear), but dispatchable (i.e. it can turn up and down depending on demend). Flexible dispatchable capacity is necessary to complement variable renewables (wind and solar). On the opposite, baseload capacity is not compatible with renewables.
when they said this, i understood this people don't know anything about electricity
Have you mixed up Base Load and Peak Load energy production or is it my understanding?
Nucelar can't just be turnd on for night but hast to run 24/7. E.g. Pumped-Storage Hydroelectricity cann be called upon when wind an solar isn't producing enough.
Nuclear can be turned off, even 3. gen plants can be turned down to 25% or so without too many complications and newer gen 4. plants can load follow with a few minutes delay.
This could also have a huge potential to solve regional inequalities in Spain. The regions in the south of Spain like Andalusia, Murcia and Extramadura are one of the poorest in Western Europe. This would bring in a huge amount of relatively well paid jobs that are desperately needed. This part of Spain is also very cheap to live in compared to richer economic centres like Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao
Great content thank you
Spain has emerged as an energy hub in Europe due to its strong economy, massive renewable potential, and good access to gas from Africa. Spain's economy has fared well in recent years, with a low inflation rate and impressive GDP growth. The country's proximity to Africa makes it well placed to become an important gas Transit State for the rest of Europe. Spain has significant renewable potential, with some of the best solar and wind potential in Europe. Spain currently has the second most solar capacity in the EU after Germany, with plans to double its capacity in the coming years. The Spanish government has also approved another 25 gigawatts of solar projects, mostly around Madrid, which are due to be completed before June 2025. Spain is also a European leader in wind power, with the most wind power installed after Germany. Additionally, Spain has good hydropower capacity that can be used as a reliable source of energy that can be turned on and off.
I'd love to see this happening, it would be very positive for Spain and the climate change crisis in general. However, as a Spaniard, I don't see the Spanish politicians very focused on these topics, they barely speak of it, if not nothing at all. They are all more focused on not important matters that are only used as a tool to gain the attention of the voters.
I dont understand why, projects like this create a shitton of jobs and even if a mega project like this would bankrupt spain once everything is built it doesnt go anywhere. And will generate revenue for the country for decades.
It will all get down to politics.
Ukraine war was the first geopolitical test for Europe and it failed completly.
Now it is down to Germany to decide what role they want to play.
Eastern Europe will push for Ukraine even if makes zero sense
They do talk about it, but it is not a fuss because it is not a controversial topic (except for the far-right). In this case, you have to look at the current plans (of energy, ecological transition and also "Plan África", for example) and see if they are being enforced and what their aims are. Public debates are one thing and government work is another. And, in my opinion, the government is doing a terrific work on these issues.
Because Europe switching to renewables will totally have a considerable impact on climate change...
Meanwhile the EU‘s anti-industry restrictions cause major corporations to move to countries, like China, which don‘t even know what environmentalism is and smaller businesses to go bankrupt.
@@random-xh5rq
Yeah, totally not controversial, when you can just label everyone who has a more nuanced stance on it, as far-right...
In Spain we are just excited to be important and being heard, we're trying our best
ahora dilo en español
Entre este y el comentario de "por fin algo de lo que no avergonzarse como español".
Curioso.
@@piedrablanca1942 Aquí tú hablas español, your name is not "Moon"
Thanks for this very interesting presentation. Take care of yourself.
There is an important fact to consider about Spain.
The people and families investing in Solar energy.
In the last four years, the annual power installed in solar self-consumption has multiplied by 26. There are already more than 200,000 residential self-consumption installations in Spain.
Seeing this is good news. After increasing the production, the biggest challenge is going to be to store and distribute that energy into the wider EU powergrid. Making green H2 could be a vital step in that process.
Thank you.This explains the war in Niger with Russian interference, they are master strategists
It's crazy that germany is at the top of literally every graph shown, yet still, they power around 40% of energy with brown coal, which is a horrendous way to power stuff
thank you.
It would be cool about a video on Denmarks hydrogen project in the western sea and north sea.
A project projected to create 1x, 2x more energy than Denmark needs when fully done.
Italy too then...
I'll elaborate this further, TLDR makes a good compelling argument about Spain's HUB possibility, especially seeing how close is Spain to Africa, but now let's think together.
Italy is at the center of the Mediterranean and it is closer to Germnay than Spain is, Italy is the second industrial power of Europe (Germany is the first), and although the Alps are a big deal, that doesn't negate that Italy and Germany are a lucrative market for Oil and Gas exports. It is more likely that the HUB idea will be formed by Italy TOGETHER with Spain (as France and the UK are close by, France is also the 3rd industrial power of the EU).
Hm, the question would rather be, if Itally has the spaces to build solar farms, wind farms or hydro power plants like spain can. I am no expert in Italian geography, so that would be a really interesting point, if someone has the knowledge to elaborate on it.
Placement wise you make a solid argument but the thing, I think at least, that holds Italy back, is the unstable government of Italy. The short cycles of new leaders and the fascist leaning politics aren't seen as a solid platform for investment. The large debt the country has built up is also not helping (maybe some kind of deal could be made where Italy starts investing more into renewables and the debt is lowered or the intrest reduced). Something could also be said about the geography of Italy compared to Spain but I would like to think that that would not be that big an issue. (edit: the Spanish government is also a bit unstable but at the same time they have some progressive views that are more welcoming to renewables, just my two cents though.)
@@arnewengertsmann9111 I too am wondering about space, but what Italy doesn't make with share space, it does by efficency.
The Mezzogiorno (Southern Italy) is a great place for solar farm and Geotermal plants (the South is obviously more geotermically active than the North), sadly not in massive scales as Italy isn't as big as Iberia, Poland or France.
The North is generally more windy and the Ionian and Tyrrinean sea currents can be exploited for sea (waves) based turbines.
@@LaurenceJvdV Italy's government are infamous for their instability, something derived by the lack of fate in the government by Italians (I am Italian I can guarantee to you that the butt of most jokes here is the government) and the childish behavior of parties.
No, Italy doesn't have a fascists government, in Rome there isn't an Ultranationalist government like in Poland or a proto-dictatorship like in Hungary, yes, elements of the government are neo-fascist or fascists, and yes, this is a problem, but that doesn't stop investment, investment (both internal and foreign) are mostly blocked by the awful economic and financial policies of Rome.
The Debt is problematic, especially the debt to GDP ratio, it is concerning, but again, this is due the lack of understanding by the incompetent parties of Italy, and usually when someone competent arrives (Mario Draghi is an example) it is usually quickly "deposed" by selfish parties, wanting more power to themselves. So, yeah out of your absolutely valid arguments, the debt is the most serious and concerning one.
I can assure you than whit this governament in Italy we won't see not even a euro in energy investment.
Heck even the center left Isn't that much intrested in renewables!
Of course the free market will slowly increase power output but private companys alone aren't enought not even to reach Spain
Shout out to my sponsorblock bros, love the timestamps
Without room temperature superconductors the transmission losses will make it way too expensive and impractical and contrary to nuclear you still need a complete full scale power generation system as a backup.
Spain has 10 times the solar potential of Norway/Sweden, you may loose 90% on the transmission and you are still ahead of the Nordic idiotic solar panels lmao
@@thetaomega7816 Transmission capacity isn't free, there is a reason that power plants used to be build near where the power was being used, but its true that for Spains local needs solar is a good fit for at least 10-20% of their electric energy usage as it is used to power AC that are on at the same time as peak solar production.
Always nice to see good news about fellow southern EU country, Spain. In Italy our politicians are too busy in trying to keep the country conservative (and corrupt) that nothing gets done dedpite the potential
As a spaniard I have always felt a connection to other fellow PIGS. I wish you nothing but good fortunes.
It is the same in Spain.
@@issen2291do you realise that PIGGS is a pejorative term, right? As a Spaniard you should drop it
@@KrlKngMrtssnI actually don't care. That terminology was used mainly in the UK but look at them now, they just can dream to live in Spain or Italy.
@@reno.zed1 true
Bye bye Putin’s Russia 💪🏼🇪🇺
Hydro can also be used as a quasi battery provided you can conserve water when wind and solar are providing electricity.
what about the capacity???
It's a strange way to calculate it. Since it is the population that uses the electricity, it must be energy produced, per inhabitants. Anything else gives a wrong picture. But ok, you can always draw the picture you want to show, it just can't be used. it's like hearing politicians come up with their own analyses, depending on how you ask the question, you can get the answer you want.
Thanks for covering this topic, energy security and the green energy transition is in my opinion one of the most important topics. Unfortunately most of the comments I see online about it are criminally uninformed.
Hey they going to need way more power for all the air condition they will need to survive the summers
@@southcoastinventors6583 I live in Thailand which is way hotter than Spain. I power my house and EV 100% from my home solar. The thing about solar is the hotter it is, the sunnier it is and the more power is produced. Modern aircon is actually quite efficient as it’s basically a heat pump in reverse, it doesn’t create cold, it just moves it. Spain is already well prepared for the climate crisis as aircon is very common and houses are designed for the heat, being painted white and having shutters for the windows. I am far more concerned about countries in northern Europe like the UK, where aircon and ceiling fans are not common and buildings are designed to stay warm not cool.
@@EcoHouseThailand Do you have your panels on your roof and how many panels do you have ? Going to put some on my property this year
@@southcoastinventors6583 My house is designed to be off-grid and power 2 EVs as well as feeding back to the grid once that is liberalized here. Installing Solar is very cheap here in Thailand as we are very close to China so low transport costs and Labour rates are extremely low. There are no permitting costs. I have 20kW of PV and 36kWh of LFP. Lots of videos on my channel
If Spain can use gravity batteries where they use surplus power to move water up hill , then covert it hydroelectric power they don’t have to worry about how to store power. They can also build underground heat storage next to large plants that need heat power and or convert it with steam into electricity. There are ways to increase storage efficiency
They exist already in Spain, but as the video mentioned, all water reservoirs are already in use and there isn't much potential there
Andalucia has restricted water distribution in a number of towns. Many reservoirs are critically low.
@@bipl8989Here, in Catalunya, we also have a water shortage we are working on drought protocol but there are solutions. I'm originally from Israel and we always had water shortages with hot climate and one sweat water lake in the north. We were always taught to save water and in the news they kept talking about the lake's water level. Now we hardly use the lake for water as most drinking water comes from desalination and, for agriculture and industrial use, water recycling. Nowadays the cost of desalination is low and Spain must invest and build desalination plants along the shorelines to resolve this crisis.
At 4:00 , I think the unit should be GW instead of MW.
Norway and Sweden are basically acting like giant batteries for Northern Europe with their abundant hydropower, so why not something similar in Southern Europe?
We need every bit of renewable energy we can get. I think we need to maintain nuclear and even expand it as much as possible as it gives a large baseload power amount. Until we are 100% fossil fuel free we need the most robust mix possible. Wind / solar / hydro / nuclear all great. We also need to overshoot our energy targets.
The problem with nuclear (fission) reactors is: The more renewable energy you have, the less feasible this type of energy production is. I know that also tldr is spreading this kind of misinformation/lobbyist arguments, but you can't turn a nuclear reactor on and off, as suggested in this video and elsewhere. It takes 2-7 days to ramp-up the energy production of a nuclear reactor.
If you have a lot of renewable energy production, which is definitely the way to go, you need a back-up that can produce energy within seconds to minutes. On the fossil side these are gas turbines, on the clean energy side batteries, hydro oder H2.
@@Critizens Why would more renewables mean lower feasibility for nuclear? This doesn't make sense to me. Nuclear provides a solid baseload that is reliable, stable. You could structure a system where 50% of all energy is produced by nuclear. The remaining could be made up of wind / solar and pumped hydro that can be used on demand. Surplus energy in the evenings from nuclear / renewables could be used to restore the pumped hydro. Perhaps a residual 5-10% of gas could be used to pick up any slack until decentralized battery systems are in place.
@@__Wanderer Because your numbers doesn't add up.
1.) Having enough hydro storage for 50 % of the entire energy consumption is simply not possible for most countries. Maybe Norway could do so with a lot of mountains, rivers and few people.
2.) Almost all concept for the widespread use of renewables are calculating with 150+ percent energy producing capacity. If you have more solar + wind than you need, even a cloudy day with middle wind speeds would work. So on day A you might have 75 % more energy than you need (hydro, H2 and batteries as storage), on day B massive clouds and almost no wind = use of stored energy + maybe back-up power plants.
3.) These back-up power plants need to be up within minutes or at least hours. Nuclear fission energy is too slow for that purpose.
4.) If all the world would use 50 % nuclear for base-load, we would run out of suitable uranium ore (economically feasible concentration) within a few decades. That's not sustainable as well.
It is as simple as this: The more renewable power generation you have, the more flexible or agile your storage and back-up must become. Nuclear is the exact opposite of what is needed in tandem with renewables.
@@Critizens 1) I suppose you could also go the route france went and have 70% nuclear if that makes you happier, they have done just fine on that for decades. Saying they are incompatible is nonsensical. I agree with you that you would need to have multiple "battery" power systems be that hydro/ H2/ geothermal / mechanical flywheel / Li-ion etc etc not going to go into an exhaustive list. 2) And yes have excess is the name of the game with all renewables. 3) This is a point you're just pulling out of thin air. At no point would you have to do anything, that is what baseload is - you keep it on continuously at a certain amount. 4) I am not suggesting the entire world go nuclear. Many regions would have access to better suited sources as you state. Norway: hydro as you state. Equatorial countries: solar. Iceland: geothermal... etc. We need nuclear though in many regions as it is a robust, stable system that doesn't suffer intermittency and is stated to last 90 years with a quick google. But indeed if we double or triple reactors perhaps 30-50 years but this doesn't take into account potential new reserves found.
@@__Wanderer Well, have a look at France last summer: The only reason their nuclear depended grid didn't collapsed was the EU energy grid.
Nuclear power plants are extremely vulnerable: Geopolitics (if you don't have uranium ore on your own soil), dry periods = not enough cooling water (as seen last year in France), unexpected maintenance...
And what I mentioned at point #3 is normal operation for a grid with a lot of renewables: You have to bring power production and demand in balance for a stable grid. If your renewable power output fluctuate on various time scales (minutes, hours, days, weeks), you need a buffer to cover all those conditions.
Nuclear is the worst possible technology to be teamed up with renewables. You can ask any power grid expert about that^^
"We'll become Europe's Energy Hub!"
😀
"So we'll start by closing down nuclear in 2035*, which makes 20% of our electricity"
😑
Energy is a zero-sum game. If you increase solar energy production, then you have to decrease something else.
Nuclear being the most obvious one, since it tends to be one of the most expensive forms of energy production.
@@vonnikon nuclear is only more expensive if you compare in LCOE costs. System costs are entirely different, especially when you want to decarbonize your system quickly completely. At the moment, the rapid expansion of renewables comes together with an increase in dependency on natural gas and imports. Certain countries that went too much on variable sources are already facing consequences (see Germany and California). Meanwhile, the ones that balanced stable clean energy sources (mainly hydro and nuclear) with variable ones, not only already have a clean electricity grid, but a secure and affordable one (see Sweden).
For Spain, natural gas, coal and cogeneration make up more than 30% of electricity consumption. Not including the imports from France on non-windy days (which today counts by +10%), and the exports that Spain does to Portugal. By removing nuclear, the situation will become much more complicated for Spain, especially if they want to become an Energy hub, as dependence on France and Africa will surely increase to maintain stability.
EDIT: This is why countries that are renewables and were once anti-nuclear, like Italy and Denmark, are now considering nuclear as an option. Especially after Russian invasion of Ukraine, and after seeing the energy disaster happening in Germany.
2035* and the plan is to replace it with renewables
@@miguelsousa9802 nuclear in Denmark? Yeah, no, that is not gonna happen..
Denmark is the world leader in wind power. 60% of all electricity produced in Denmark comes from wind. And nearby Norway has more hydro power than anyone else.
The intermittent danish wind power is regulated using norwegian hydro. Perfect combination.
Most nuclear reactors in Europe are old. Just keeping them running is not too expensive.
But overhsuling them to meet modern safety standards is expensive. And replacing old worn-out reactors with new ones is prohibitibly expensive.
That's why they are replaced by renewables instead. It is cheaper.
Yeah that’s manipulation socialism and bureaucracy
2:40 "the south is almost constantly sunny" the mean capacity factor of photovoltaic in the south Spain is 20%... better than UK 10% but that's still a problem for electricity users who can't afford a 80% year round blackout.
Energy storage is not just batteries
There are schemes that pump water up hill with off peak surplus power and generate on demand. There is one in Wales.
Spain has been subsidizing quite a bit in the last year or so, which has limited the inflation significantly. But they will need to reduce subsidies quite a bit soon, as it's very expensive. Then inflation will catch up.
If they stop when food prices cool down it may be just a 2-3% as "desired" by economists.
Government subsidides didn't attack the inflation source, which was gas prices. What did that was the limit to said prices, the so called "Iberian exception", which Brussels wanted to implement in the rest of Europe. We have one of the lowest inflations in Europe as a result of that.
@@aaronhpaI mean, the healthy range is 0,5-2%, but it's not like Spain can control international inflation. Plus, I mean - compare 2% to 10% that much of Europe still suffers from.
Spain didn't have more subsidies than other countries. Instead it attacked the source of inflation. The electricity marginalist market. A single source of energy representing 20% of the production determined the price of all electricity and that source was several more times more expensive the other sources. So instead that energy had his capacity of dictating the price removed.
@@MrJuanmarin99 the marginalist system is jack shit, you should pay the weighted average price, not the maximum 😔😔😔
A well managed african pipline, where the money goes to the people would be great
Africa is way too corrupt for that, the only African leader that did that even partially was Muammar Gaddafi and the west made sure that he lost power...
When does that ever happen though..
4:22 Does that include pumped hydro? I think this includes pumped hydro, which is important, but it is different then hydro power plant on a river.
4:03 the x axis should be in GW instead of MW
Did Ben escape from prison ? 😅
He forgot to change his shirt
lol
Looks like nature blessed Spain with all this potential for power!
And then it cursed it by making its only connection to europe go through France.
It would be useful to include UK on the stats.
I think that at this point there still is only very little room for massive hydrogen/e-fuels as there still is possibility to build HVDC links from Spain to Italy and southern France and sell the energy there. With upgrades of power lines between Italy and Austria, it then would enable access of Central Europe to cheap Spanish electricity. As well, if I remember correctly, peaks in production from Wind happen in different times in Spain and central Europe.
Phasing out nuclear when you have any fossil fuel producing on your grid is madness
Yes and no. I get your point from a CO2 PoV, but from a "stable grid" perspective, it makes more sense to keep fossil fuels a bit longer. A nuclear (fission) reactor is like an ocean liner: It takes 2-7 days to ramp-up the energy production, meanwhile renewables can fluctuate within minutes. On the other hand, gas turbines can ramp-up in a few minutes. Coal is somewhere in the middle with 2 h up to half a day.
@@Critizens then work on what's needed to get rid of the fossil fuel plants. That should absolutely be the focus on what's changed.
@@joshuahillerup4290 It's a transition period, sure. But it will cost billions and take decades to build all the energy storage capacity that is needed.
And in the meantime, nuclear fission is the exact opposite of what is need for the transition period: Renewables need "fast on/off" back-ups, not stable base load power plants as a tandem partner.
@@Critizens it's already costing more by not switching, and that cost is going to keep rising sharply until everyone does.
And having a predictable supply of power does not make it harder to switch. Worse case there are cheap mechanisms to dump excess power, not that it often comes to that.
Green and pink hydrogen are the future. Japan and South Korea are working on the latter, and I have little doubt they will succeed. It will be interesting to see a future where nations in West Europe and East Asia are the future version of what Saudi Arabia and OPEC represent today.
The best bit is that the sunny Netherlands are in the same ballpark as Spain in term of energy on a graph, yet ignored. ;-)
3:58 should have said Gigawatt. 28 Megawatt is practically nothing. (One wind turbine is approximately ~1MW)
That means the chart also has incorrect units.
🤔
Wow this took you a good while to get a video about... better late than never!
Worth noting a few things. First one, Iberdrola is already one of the world's largest energy companies, and they're on their way to dominate the world. Considering energy basically equals power in an industrialized society, this leaves them in an incredibly critical position that not many have yet caught on, although that is meddled by the rather decentralized nature of renewable energy.
Secondly is that Iberdrola is a Basque company. Why is that important? Well, remember the Catalan thing? Yeah, Basques were first. Having the state's company with the most potential in a region which doesn't even pay taxes to Madrid shows a tough balance of power, which is only compounded when you see elections and governments are becoming increasingly reliant on what pro-independence parties say. This doesn't look like a politically stable situation, but surely one where interesting tradeoffs could come out from.
Third one is: regardless, get used to Spain filling the void the UK left. This has consequences. For instance, Spain is basically the most pro-union country in the EU, although doubtfully pro-federation. This means that the EU can become strongly dependent on Spanish politics for its own to succeed, even without accounting for energy needs. And the Spanish governments have had interesting thoughts on things such as encryption, spying, taxation or extradition. I wonder how will the EU presidency (a role which usually didn't matter, but guess what, Pedro Sánchez is extremely good at making everything about himself) respond to the political landscapes from places as different as, say, Germany or Poland.
As a Pole, I do wonder this too. I certainly cannot imagine a good EU presidency under my government.
"This doesn't look like a politically stable situation" has been the story of Spain since before Spain even existed. Spain came into existence in 1700s when Castile and Aragon were unified. But the problems started with the Habsburgs marrying into control of Spain in the 1500s. And hell, before that was the Reconquista. If Spain has ever known a period of peace and unity in its history, it's always been remarkably brief.
@@mix3k818 yeah, eventually it's going to happen, same as with Hungary... hopefully will get stuck in the EU parliament when trying to push social policies ‒ but just hopefully
btw, greet Pablo González on our behalf!
@@SittingOnEdgeman Yeah indeed, which is weird because it remains an unitary state to this day with no coups in a good while... at least I can tell you that even if unity is polarizing, peace surely isn't
@@xerzy Ironically the Spanish Civil War, and Franco's (relatively) adept handling of the wartime and post-war dictatorship seems to have been a major unifying factor. Not that people like Franco or his policies, but the various compromises he made (bringing back constitutional monarchy, transitioning from autarky to a globalized economy) helped bring Spain back during the cold war. Socially, moving past him, and affirming that rejection of autocracy has proved to be a unifying factor. That is to say - Spain has decided anything is better than another Spanish Civil War and another Franco. Not an expert by any means, but as a layman that's what seems to have happened.
Maybe 4th highest hydro capacity in Schengen. Norway is not a member of the EU so only Italy and France have more hydro within the EU. Norway part of Schengen and EFTA.
5:15 - Nuclear power plants are generally not well suited for load-following operations, especially if they are designed as continuous energy sources. Renewable energies like wind and solar power have variable production that heavily depends on weather conditions. This means they generate energy based on availability, leading to fluctuations in the power grid. Nuclear power plants, on the other hand, are better suited for steady base load operations, where they produce a constant amount of energy.
Cycling nuclear power plants on and off in sync with the fluctuating generation levels of renewable energies can be technically challenging and might reduce the efficiency of nuclear power plants. It's often more economical and practical to use flexible gas or energy storage systems to compensate for the variations in renewable energy generation and to maintain grid stability.