Renewable energy covers 42% of Spain's electricity needs

A study published by the Spanish Electricity Network (Red Electica Espanola) on Thursday showed renewables covered 42.2 percent of the demand for electricity in mainland Spain in 2013 with wind energy the main contributor.
Wind energy produced 21.2 percent of the country's electricity, 3.1 percent up on the 18.1 percent from 2012.
Meanwhile, hydro-electric power contributed 14.6 percent of needs, while solar power covered 4.8 percent of demand, renewable thermal energy 2 percent and other sources, such as biomass, accounted for the remainder
In the face of the advance of renewable energy sources, there was a 1 percent reduction in electricity produced at nuclear power plants, while there was a significant drop in the use of carbon based fuels such as coal.
The percentage of electricity produced by carbon based fuels fell to 14.6 percent in 2013 from 19.3 percent the previous year.
This led to a significant reduction in carbon emissions, with 60 million tons less of CO2 entering the atmosphere (24.8 percent) than in 2012.