Spain harnesses renewable energy to fuel the entire country's needs for 9 hours straight

Source: Business Insider

Spain is among a handful of countries leading the world in the push toward renewable energy. And last week it reached a new milestone.

Energy generated from wind, sun, and water managed to meet the needs of mainland Spain from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, El Pais reported.

Renewable energy has grown in the past few years, according to Scientific American. It now accounts for about one-third of electricity generation worldwide. And that share is growing. 

The shift to green energy not only helps address the climate crisis by reducing emissions, but it is also profitable and reduces costs.

El Pais reported that in Spain, the addition of solar panels has had a dual effect: it adds energy to the grid system while reducing the demand for other sources of energy when the sun is out.

While not every oil and gas company is making the shift towards more renewable energy, some are already seeing increased profits from the move.  Insider reported that over the past two decades, Ørsted, a Danish company, had slowly been making the switch from black to green energy and has so far raked in billions in profit.

The company, which had a net profit of $2 billion last year, produces 90% of its energy from renewable resources.

In the United States, the push toward green energy continues to pick up momentum.

President Joe Biden's administration recently approved a multibillion-dollar transmission line that will send wind energy from New Mexico into cities along the West Coast, the Associated Press reported.

While these advances in green energy — like in Spain — do not eliminate the need for oil and gas, they are a way to reduce it and help ease carbon emissions.

"What is relevant is that this is not something cyclical, but on the way to being structural, both because of the fall in demand and, above all, because of the increase in photovoltaic generation," Natalia Fabra, a professor of economics at the Carlos III University in Madrid, told El Pais.