Spanish primary energy consumption is based mainly on oil products, and to a lesser extent on coal. Oil is used mainly for transport, while coal is used for electricity generation. Of this primary energy, the major part is imported, as Spain is scarce in energy natural resources. Only one third of the energy supply corresponds to domestic energy production, while the rest is imported. In order to fulfil this demand, a total power of 47,117 MW is installed, with a total electricity production of 167 TWh.
Electricity comes mainly from nuclear, hydro, and national coal.
Their relative contribution depends on the climate, since this determines the contribution of hydro. This has conditioned the selection of the fuel cycles covered in this study. These fuel cycles have been selected according to their representativeness for the future Spanish energy system, so that the use of results for planning purposes would be rather straightforward. These existing power plants have been assessed for the aggregation exercise, although the assessment of their external effects has been simplified. As shown previously, national coal is expected to be used more in the following years, due to its advantages for energy security, and for maintaining the mining industry and all its related activities.