The challenge Spanish regulators face is balancing their country's energy needs (now growing at 5% a year) and keeping Spain's carbon emissions promises under the Kyoto Protocol. Their solution for keeping the lights on in the fifth-largest electricity market in the EU is born of necessity and immensely practical: build natural gas–burning, high-efficiency combined-cycle plants and significantly increase Spain's wind power portfolio. Adding more coal plants was just not in the cards, given Kyoto and a government actively working to close coal mines. In Spain, the use of coal for power generation has dropped almost 50% over the past two decades.
Spain began shifting from coal to natural gas as the preferred fuel for baseload capacity in the mid-1990s even though the country must import all of ifs gas, either by pipeline (from one offshore field operated by Repsol-YPF) or as liquefied natural gas (LNG). Spain is Europe's second-largest LNG importer (after France) and relies on Algeria for over 60% of its total. Spain leads the EU in growth of natural gas consumption; that growth is projected to continue at a rate of about 10% a year through 2011.
Spain, the world's second-largest producer of wind power (Germany is No. 1), also has invested heavily in that technology. Over 10,000 MW now is on-line—one-sixth of the world's total at the end of 2005—satisfying 6% of Spain's total electricity demand. Another 57,000 MW of wind projects are on the drawing board. Comparatively, the U.S. is an also-ran with a mere 9,000 MW in operation at the end of 2005.
Madrid-based Iberdrola Generación S.A. (Iberdrola), the largest owner and operator of renewable energy facilities in the world, expects to hit 6,200 MW of installed wind capacity by 2008 as part of its plans to build over 10,000 MW of capacity fueled by renewable energy sources worldwide by the end of 2011.
Spanish armada
Close to Arcos de la Frontera, in the southern Spanish province of Cádiz, Iberdrola recently placed into commercial service the Group III 800-MW power block, featuring two General Electric (GE) Frame 9FB gas turbines (Figure 1). The project began six years ago with the acquisition of a 400-MW combined-cycle plant under development by Abengoa Group. That was followed by the purchase of a 1,200-MW project being developed by an Enron subsidiary. By early 2003, Iberdrola was granted permission to construct the 1,600-MW Arcos de la Frontera (Arcos) plant. At an estimated cost of 800 million euros (about $1 billion at current conversion rates), Arcos (Figure 2) is the largest and most expensive power plant Iberdrola has built in its 100-year history.
1. First in line. The newest member of General Electric's gas turbine stable is the Frame 9FB, shown here in one of the two Arcos de la Frontera Group III power blocks. Courtesy: Iberdrola
2. Reign in Spain. Iberdrola commissioned the 800-MW Arcos III power block last December, making the 1,600-MW combined-cycle plant the largest of its kind in Spain. Courtesy: Iberdrola
Phase A (consisting of Arcos I and II) went into commercial service in 2004. During that year, Iberdrola also started up the 400-MW Santurtzi combined-cycle plant, for an annual total of 1,200 MW. Phase B of the Arcos III plant and a 400-MW plant in Aceca, Toledo, added another 1,200 MW of combined-cycle muscle to Iberdrola's portfolio the following year. If the 800-MW Escombreras plant is commissioned this year as expected, Iberdrola's total increase in combined-cycle capacity over the past three will be a whopping 3,200 MW.
Atlanta-based General Electric was responsible for the design and supply of the major rotating equipment for each of the Arcos power blocks. Iberdrola's engineering group, Iberinco (Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción), was responsible for the integration engineering, project management, and turnkey supply of the balance-of-plant equipment. Spain's Sener provided engineering support to this project.
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