Power and gas integration: The Spanish experience

Abstract

Through the end of the 20th century and beginning of 21st century, the Spanish policy-makers have had a strong commitment to the development of renewable energies and clean power technologies, mainly related with wind power and combined cycles. This commitment has involved several technical, regulatory and operational challenges, but perhaps the most critical of these has been the development of a gas system capable of supplying gas to the 21,667 MW new combined cycles built in Spain since 2002, and the required flexibility to complement and, when required, substitute the unpredictable wind power generation, currently around 15,500 MW and increasing steadily. This gas network system is characterized by the lack of underground storage, the role of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), a competitive gas market, and sharp demand rise, mainly due to the boom of the combined cycles that has led to important investments in new infrastructure during the past years. This paper provides an overview of the Spanish gas market and its implications over the Spanish power system.