Spain Sets New Gas Record, during Hot, Dry August
Spanish gas demand this August grew by 18% year on year, breaking the nine-year record for a yearly rise that had been set the previous month, said Enagas August 31. Demand in July was up 17% year on year.
Spanish gas grid operator Enagas said overall gas demand in August reached 25.1 terawatt-hours (2.33bn m³).
Gas demand from homes, businesses and industry was up by 4.5% year on year to its highest ever August level of 17.3 TWh (1.6bn m³), of which demand from industry was particularly strong (up 6%) principally from paper manufacturing and metallurgy.
Demand for gas in power generation increased by more than 60% year on year to 7.8 TWh (0.73bn m3), its highest August level since 2011, spurred by very low levels of hydro-electric and wind-power generation.
In the eight months of 2017 to date, Spanish gas demand is 9% higher year on year, thanks to power-generation demand and industrial demand up 7% thanks to economic growth.
Spanish power grid operator REE said that electricity demand in mainland Spain was 1.5% higher in August 2017 than the same 2016 month, with demand in the first eight months of the year up 1.1%. It too noted the reduced contribution of wind-power to this month's electricity production.
Mark Smedley