The European Union countries have created very bold plans about the development and wide use of renewable energy in the union for the future. Among the firsts in this trend is Spain. The county has pledged to produce 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. In the end of 2009 those figures stood at 12.5%. On the forefront of these projects are the autonomous regions of Castile, Leon and Galicia where roughly 70% of all electricity comes from renewable sources.

Wind Energy

Spain is the forth biggest producer in the world of wind energy after the US, Germany and China. Currently, there is installed capacity of 16 MW that is planned to be increased by 1MW every year. The energy produced this way is the third biggest producer of energy in the Spanish economy after gas and nuclear power. There are the highest amount of facilities built in the regions of Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha and Galicia.

Solar Energy

Spain is an innovator in the field of solar energy. The country was the first one in the world to construct a photovoltaic energy plant in 2005. This kind of technology transforms solar energy into direct current electricity with the use of semiconductors. Solar panels collect solar energy that goes through a number of cells full of photovoltaic materials such as silicon telluride and copper sulfides. Spain is number two in the world after Israel in the introduction of photovoltaic electricity generators in new buildings and requires the use of solar hot water systems.

A very famous facility is Spain is the PS10 solar power tower near Seville in Andalucia. It uses 624 movable mirrors and produces 11 MWs of electricity. It is the first commercial solar power tower in the world.

Car rental companies that operate in Spain are Europcar, Hertz, Avis, Solmar, Alamo, National and Centauro.