The national grid operator of Spain has declared that the demand of power in the country has declined by 4.3 percent in this year.

According to the opening report, REE (REE. MC) total demand of 251,305 gigawatt-hours in mainland Spain, or 4.6% below as against 2008, before making adjustmens for variations in temperature and workdays.

In the month of December, power transmission came down by 2.3% as compared to the same period in previous year, and has fallen every month in year-on-year terms since September last year because of lesser demand from recession-hit industry and consumers.

Further, the grid stated that the demand of power in the country had been falling continuously since April this year. The REE report noted that for the first time ever, wind power accounted for a greater share of country’s generation mix (13%) than coal (12%).

In a process to reduce its strong dependence on imported fuels and greenhouse gas emission, which are quite above Kyoto limits- Spain has provided financial support for renewable energy sources & is currently the world’s third-largest wind power generator and second solar power producer.

All in all, renewables provided 26% of Spain’s electricity in 2009, which are 24% more than a year ago. This compared with a pre-determined of 40% in which the power industry hopes to reach by 2020 to fulfill the European Union targets for renewable energy use.

The hike in renewables and a fall in demand meanwhile reduced CO2 emission by Spain’s power plants by15.5% to around 74.5 million tones.