SPAIN

1. ENERGY, ECONOMIC AND ELECTRICITY INFORMATION

1.1 General Overview

Spain is a constitutional democracy. The Head of State is the King. Executive power is vested in the President of the government. The Constitution was adopted in 1987. Spain is situated in south west Europe, occupying the greater part of the Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic and Canary Islands and a small part of northern Africa (Ceuta and Melilla), and bounded on the north by the Bay of Biscay, France and Andorra; on the east by the Mediterranean Sea; on the south by the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; and on the west by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. The area of Spain is 504 800 km2 large.

The climate of Spain is marked by extreme temperatures and, generally, insufficient rainfall. The variegated physical features of the country ensure pronounced climatic differences. The climate is most equable along the Cantabric and Atlantic coasts, which are generally damp and mild. The central plateau is dry and hot. Most of Spain receives less than 610 mm of precipitation per year, the northern mountains get considerable more moisture. By contrast, the southern Mediterranean coast has a subtropical climate. Malaga, in the extreme south, has an average winter temperature of 14oC. The average precipitation in Spain is 627 mm.

The historical population data are given in Table 1. The population in Spain at the beginning of 2000 was almost 40 million; the overall density was about 79 persons per km2. Spain is increasingly urbanizing with more than three-fourths of the population in towns and cities. The population growth rate is close to zero, so the population is stabilizing.

Spain has traditionally been an agricultural country and is still one of the largest producers of farm commodities in Western Europe, but since the mid-1950s, industrial growth has been rapid. A series of development plans, initiated in 1964, helped the economy to expand, but in the later 1970s an economic slowdown came by rising oil costs and increased imports. In January 1986, Spain became a full member of the European Community.

Spain actually has nine operating nuclear units which represents 7 749 MW gross electric power and produces about 30% of the electricity generation. The reactors are of both types BWR and PWR from different suppliers namely Westinghouse, General Electric and Siemens. The energy policy goes towards the complete liberalization of the markets with the main target of decreasing the energy prices, ensuring the energy supply and the quality, also improving the energy efficiency, reducing the consumption and protecting the environment.

TABLE 1. POPULATION INFORMATION

Source: IAEA Energy and Economic Database

1.1.1. Economic Indicators

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been increasing since the early 90's due to an increase in the service sector. In 1999, GDP was 97,145 billion current pts. Table 2 shows the historical GDP statistics in US$.

TABLE 2. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP)

Source: IAEA Energy and Economic Database.Country Information.

1.1.2. Energy Situation

The main indigenous energy sources in Spain are coal and hydro (Table 3). The primary energy consumption raised to about 120 Mtoe in 1999. This figure is obtained as the result of adding every non-electric final energy consumption and the energy sector consumption (self consumption and transformation consumption) and the energy losses. The final energy demand in the same year was about 88 Mtoe and the national primary energy production was 34 Mtoe. Table 4 shows the historical energy statistics from the IAEA Energy and Economic Data Base.

TABLE 3. ESTIMATED ENERGY RESERVES

Source: IAEA Energy and Economic Database.

1.2. Energy Policy

The legal framework is based in Law 54/1997 on Electric Sector and Law 34/1998 on Hydrocarbon Sector and the rules in relation with them. The energy policy tends to liberalize progressively the markets with the main target of decreasing the energy prices ensuring the energy supply and the quality, trying also to improve the energy efficiency, to reduce the consumption and to protect the environment.

In the field of electricity generation, the principle of freedom is established to set up and to operate on a free market basis. The electric transportation and distribution are liberalized allowing to third parts to the grid. The electric sale is based in a free election of the supplier, with a transition period established in ten years to spread the free election to all consumers. Law 54/1997 joins to Spanish regulations European Directive 96/92/CE, relative to common standards for inner electric market. Law also establishes other targets like to improve energy efficiency, to reduce consumption and to protect the environment.

Law 34/1998 on Hydrocarbon Sector is in the same way than Law 54/1997, intending to establish liberalizing markets, where the Government only establishes the rules. In all cases being aware about environmental protection. This Law considers the different stages in the hydrocarbon industry, for liquid and gas. Law 34/1998 creates the Energy National Commission (Comisión Nacional de Energía), to regulate the energy systems, to maintain the free competence among them and the transparency of the performance, to benefice all the organizations working in the system and the consumers.

TABLE 4. ENERGY STATISTICS(*)