Spain's electricity demand rose 1.8% in October; nuclear was the leading source in the mix

Spain's electricity demand rose 1.8% in October compared with the same month last year, after removing the effects of temperature and working days, the transmission and system operator Red Eléctrica (REE) announced on 4 November. In gross terms, consumption was 20,601 GWh, 0.7% above October 2025.

The figures. In the first ten months of the year, adjusted demand grew by 1.9%, while gross demand reached 218,874 GWh, 3% more than in the same period of 2025. REE estimates that self-consumption installations produced a further 1,170 GWh in October, energy that is not included in the grid demand data.

The mix. Renewable technologies produced 10,988 GWh, or 48.4% of generation; including self-consumption, the share rises to 49.9%, according to the operator's estimates. Nuclear was the month's leading source, with 21.7%, followed by gas-fired combined cycles, with 21.4%, and solar photovoltaics, with 21%. In total, 70.2% of electricity was produced without CO2-equivalent emissions.

Storage. In October, batteries and pumped-storage hydropower plants fed 778 GWh back into the grid, 4.7% more than in October 2025, shifting energy from periods of abundant production to other times of the day, REE said.

Context. The trade magazine pv magazine España notes that photovoltaics thus dropped to third place in the monthly mix, behind nuclear and combined cycles. In September, according to the same operator, photovoltaics had been the leading technology in the mix for the sixth consecutive month, with 26.3%, and adjusted demand had also grown by 1.8%. The October data were also reported by El Periódico de la Energía.

Real-time data for the country are on the country page