Spain

Spain’s electricity transition is accelerating, with renewables overtaking fossil fuels in the country’s electricity generation in 2020. Solar in particular is growing quickly with a 12% share of Spain’s electricity in 2022, up from 5% in 2015. Spain also had the second largest solar rollout of EU countries in 2022 with 7.5 GW capacity additions, just behind Germany (7.9 GW). Coal power has collapsed, falling from nearly 20% in 2015 to just 2.7% in 2022. 

While Spain’s share of fossil fuels in electricity production is about average for the EU, the government has an ambitious wind and solar deployment plan over the next decade, and fossil fuel use will fall sharply. 

To limit global temperature rise to 1.5C, Spain must phase-out coal by 2030 and fully decarbonise electricity by 2035. Spain has already committed to phase-out coal by 2030, but has yet to set a date to fully decarbonise electricity.

Last updated: May 2023