Wind Power Contribution reaches 54% in Spain on December Day

from American Wind Energy Association, Wind Energy Weekly

Less than two months after breaking its peak wind penetration record, Spain has done it again.
During a period on December 30, wind power provided 54% of the nation's electricity supply, topping the previous record of 53% set in November (see below).
Spain's latest achievement underlined the fact that the Iberian peninsula has become a global leader in wind power's use. Almost overnight, wind has come to dominate Spain's energy picture, demonstrating the speed with which wind farms can be installed and provide a significant energy contribution. In 2009 wind accounted for 95% of new generating capacity installed in Spain.
"Spain is definitely a success story in terms of integrating centralized wind forecasting into grid operations-they have a state-of-the-art operations center devoted to that," observed Michael Goggin, electric industry analyst at AWEA. "Spain has a single large balancing area with robust energy markets, which greatly facilitates wind integration as well."
Spain is not the only country in the region achieving such benchmarks. At a workshop in November, Portugal's national utility system operator, REN, announced that the country had reached a peak level of 71% of electricity supply from wind on November 15.
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Wind Integration
Volume 27, Issue 1363
13 Nov 2009
Wind Power Supplies 53% of Spain's Power Sunday Morning
Wind power showed its ability to power a large chunk of load in Spain on Sunday morning, when the renewable resource met over half of the country's electricity demand.
Wind energy supplied 53% of electricity in Spain between 3 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., according to Asociacion Empresarial Eolica (AEE), the Spanish wind energy association. AEE also said that in the first nine days of November, wind energy was the top-producing energy source on the Spanish electric system, reaching 1,770,486 MWh-ahead of combined-cycle gas-fired generation (1,369,955 MWh) and nuclear power (1,223,350 MWh).
"AEE wants to emphasize, once again, the regular functioning of the electrical system during these peaks and also remind that wind power has covered in 2008 11.5% of the electricity demand," the association said in a news release.