Solar photovoltaic has already produced more electricity in 2023 than in the whole of 2022
  • According to forecasts for 6 September, solar photovoltaic energy generation for 2023 will today reach 27,968 GWh, surpassing its overall production for the whole of 2022, which stood at 27,902 GWh.
  • This milestone has been made possible thanks to favourable weather conditions throughout the year and a solar photovoltaic generation fleet that continues to grow, and which already has an installed power capacity of 22,454 MW.
     

Solar photovoltaic energy generation has beaten its own records. According to Red Eléctrica’s forecast, total electricity generated with this technology will today reach 27,968 GWh, a value that surpasses its production for the whole of 2022, which stood at 27,902 GWh. Thus, this renewable source has beaten its all-time record for annual production and to date has increased 32.3% with respect to the cumulative total registered between 1 January and 6 September 2022.

This record value for solar photovoltaic energy has been mainly due to favourable weather conditions and the installed power capacity of this technology in Spain, which enables it to make better use and take greater advantage of sunlight to generate this non-polluting energy. Currently, solar photovoltaic ranks third among those technologies with the greatest presence in the overall power generation fleet nationwide, with an installed power capacity of 22,454 MW.

According to data available at the time of this press release, solar photovoltaic, with a share of 15.1%, is the fourth source of energy in Spain’s overall electricity generation mix since January; a mix led by wind energy, which accounts for 22.4% of the total. With the boost from solar and wind technologies, half of the energy produced in Spain is of renewable origin.

A great summer for solar PV energy

With a greater number of sunlight hours available, the summer months are those in which the contribution of solar photovoltaic technologies towards driving the green transition in Spain is most evident. July, with 4,530 GWh, was the month with the greatest contribution from this technology, which increased its production by 33.6% compared to July 2022.

Soon after that, on Wednesday 2 August, solar photovoltaic energy once again set a new milestone by registering a new maximum daily production record at national level, with 161 GWh. In global terms, on some days in July and August, solar photovoltaic production was responsible for more than 20% of the total daily electricity generated.