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Solar Power
As well as being the original source of biomass, wind power, hydroelectric
and fossil fuels, energy from the sun can be directly harnessed in several
ways. Passive solar heating is nothing more than leaving something in
the sun to get hot, and may be used to heat buildings or for solar cookers.
Solar thermal refers to solar heating of water, while photovoltaic is
the generation of electricity from sunlight using solar cells. All,
of course, are very well suited to the Costa del Sol, which, appropriately
enough, is home to Spain’s largest solar panel factory, Isofotón
in Malaga, whose production is the second largest in Europe and seventh
in the world.
Photovoltaic generation is sometimes criticised on the grounds that
the production of solar cells is expensive, polluting, and uses large
amounts of energy. While there is some truth in this, it is nonetheless
a far more environmentally friendly and socially responsible option
than conventional energy sources. Much of the price difference results
from economies of scale, public subsidies and better established technology.
Were there a level playing field, photovoltaic would be far more competitive.
As things stand, a photovoltaic installation is no small investment
- a complete domestic set-up may cost several thousand euros - but does
provide long-term savings. The value of the electricity generated should
comfortably cover the outlay within twenty of the thirty years such
a system can be expected to last. With grants available to reduce installation
costs, and electricity companies obliged to buy excess production at
preferential rates, payback time can arrive far earlier.
Solar water heating is less controversial, and widely agreed to make
sound environmental and financial sense. In Andalucía’s
favourable climate, a relatively simple and cheap system of heating
and storage can meet eighty percent more of a household’s hot
water needs over the year, the existing gas heater meeting the difference.
This should pay for itself in five or six years, less if replacing an
inefficient electric system or subsidised with a grant.
Hydroelectric
Spain’s notorious abundance of dams is in part a legacy of the rule
of Franco, for whom they were something of an obsession, but succeeding
governments have continued to build them in large numbers. As is typical,
the impressive new dam along the Granada-Motril highway has been built
mostly for water storage, but doubles up as a power station. In Spain,
hydroelectric power produces more electricity than any other renewable
source, but its merits are debatable.
While the water cycle is a natural and renewable source of energy, the
dams themselves cause massive environmental and social damage. The controversial
Itoitz dam in Navarra, northern Spain, has aroused fierce local struggle
among locals evicted from their land, and many of us have read Chris Stewart’s
account of the despoliation of his paradisiacal Alpujarran valley when
work started on a dam there.
Microhydro, the same principle operating on a much smaller scale, is less
destructive, and for riverside locations small water turbines can be a
practical option for onsite electricity generation. The technology is
not so widely known or available as solar or wind generation, and both
of these are more practical alternatives for Andalucía.
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Other Features
Psychic power
Blazing Summer
Zapatero - the first 100 days
The Hippies from Outer Space
Learn Spanish
Andalicia Farming
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Biomass
Biomass is any material of living origin, which can include agricultural
or industrial wastes or any of a number of plants grown especially for
the purpose. It may be a fuel for electricity generation, burnt in the
same way as oil or coal, an application expected to increase tenfold
in Spain over the next decade.
Some vegetable oils can be converted into biodiesel, and most major
cities in Andalucía have programmes to collect waste oil from
restaurants and food producers for recycling. The most widespread and
familiar use, however, remains the traditional wood fire.
Many waste products of Andalucian agriculture are useful biomass fuels:
olive wood, for example, remains the main source of heat for many village
houses. More recently, the residues left behind after pressing olives
for oil have been recycled into biomass pellets, sold as a solid fuel.
Nobody is happier about this than the olive mills, for whom disposing
of truckloads of the stuff used to be a major expense.
Wind
While some may grumble about the visual impact of wind turbines, the
fact is that the potential of wind power is among the greatest of all
renewables. Clean, efficient and cheap to produce, generating income
in the rural areas where turbines are located, quick to build and causing
no permanent environmental damage, it is also compatible with agriculture
and many other land uses. On the downside, large turbines can be a danger
to birds so must be located carefully away from migration routes and
other important sites, and, due to noise, are generally at least a kilometre
away from any residential areas. Smaller set-ups suitable for domestic
needs are less obtrusive, and the past few years have seen a boom in
wind energy in Spain, where generating capacity increased 44% between
2001 and 2002 alone. Andalucía has 33 kilowatts of production,
almost all located along a 30km stretch of the Cadiz coastline going
west from Algeciras, though capacity is now on the rise in other provinces.
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