page_title: Solar power by country
section_title: Spain
hierarchical_section_title: Solar power by country / Europe / Spain
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of the unit I, III, and IV, of Abengoa Solar's Solnova Solar Power Station. The two towers and reflective mirrors in the background are the PS10 and PS20 solar power plants, also owned by Abengoa Solar. This region is also sometimes known as the Solar Platform.Español: Vista aérea de las unidades I, III, y IV, de las centrales solares Solnova. Al fondo se aprecian las centrales solares de torre y campo de helióstatos PS10 y PS20, también propiedad de Abengoa Solar. Todas estas plantas, son conocidas pomo la Plataforma Solar de Sanlucar la Mayor (PSSM).
context_page_description: Many countries and territories have installed significant solar power capacity into their electrical grids to supplement or provide an alternative to conventional energy sources.
  Solar power plants use one of two technologies:
  Photovoltaic systems use solar panels, either on rooftops or in ground-mounted solar farms, converting sunlight directly into electric power.
  Concentrated solar power plants use solar thermal energy to make steam, that is thereafter converted into electricity by a turbine.
  Worldwide growth of photovoltaics is extremely dynamic and varies strongly by country.
  As of 2020, there are at least 37 countries around the world with a cumulative PV capacity of more than one gigawatt.
  By the end of 2019, a cumulative amount of 629 GW of solar power was installed throughout the world. By early 2020, the leading country for solar power was China with 208 GW, accounting for one-third of global installed solar capacity. By the end of 2016, cumulative photovoltaic capacity increased by more than 75 gigawatt and reached at least 303 GW, sufficient to supply approximately 1.8 percent of the world's total electricity consumption.
context_section_description: Spain was an early adopter in the development of solar energy, since it is one of the countries of Europe with more hours of sunshine. The Spanish government committed to achieving a target of 12 percent of primary energy from renewable energy by 2010 with an installed solar generating capacity of 3000 megawatts (MW). Spain is the top tenth in the installed PV solar capacity and used to export 80 percent of solar power output to Germany. Total solar power in Spain reached nearly 7 GW by the end of 2016 including both installed PV and CSP. Nearly 8 TWh of electricity was generated from photovoltaics, and 5 TWh from CSP plants in 2016. Solar PV accounted for nearly 3% of total electricity generation in 2016 along with an additional of 1.9% from solar thermal.
  Through a ministerial ruling in March 2004, the Spanish government removed economic barriers to the connection of renewable energy technologies to the electricity grid. The Royal Decree 436/2004 equalized conditions for large-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic plants and guaranteed feed-in tariffs, which led to a boost in solar power adoption in Spain. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the Spanish government drastically cut its subsidies for solar power and capped future increases in capacity at 500 MW per year leading to a stagnation in the new installations.
caption: The first three units of Solnova in the foreground, with the two towers of the PS10 and PS20 solar power stations in the background.
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