MADRID: Spain had to resort to all available gas plants to cope with growing electricity demand triggered by the scorching temperatures in recent days, industry association Sedigas said on Thursday.
The country, like many others, has been hammered by a heatwave that has pushed temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). As Spaniards turned to air conditioning to tackle high temperatures, electricity demand went up.
On Tuesday, when these plants produced around 30 percent of the overall electricity, “the system operator had to resort to all available natural gas production units to be able to meet the demand,” Sedigas said.
These plants, known as combined cycle power plants, play an important role in particular in the early hours of the night, at around 10 p.m., when demand is still high but the contribution of solar plants is minimal.
Between June 1 and July 19, Natural gas plants produced around 22 percent of the country’s electricity, Sedigas said. Last year, these pants produced almost a fourth of the country’s electricity.
El Corte Inglés, one of Spain’s largest department store chains, said earlier this week that sales of air conditioning units had jumped, as had interest in cooling pads for pets.
Spain activates all its gas plants to cope with heatwave
https://arab.news/6p38a
Spain activates all its gas plants to cope with heatwave
- The country has been hammered by a heatwave that has pushed temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius
- As Spaniards turned to air conditioning to tackle high temperatures, electricity demand went up
Germany says UN rights rapporteur for Palestinian territories should quit
- Albanese has said that her comments are being falsely portrayed
- “I have never, ever, ever said ‘Israel is the common enemy of humanity’,” Albanese said
BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday called for the resignation of the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, over comments she made allegedly targeting Israel at a conference.
“I respect the UN system of independent rapporteurs. However, Ms Albanese has made numerous inappropriate remarks in the past. I condemn her recent statements about Israel. She is untenable in her position,” Wadephul wrote on X.
Albanese has said that her comments are being falsely portrayed. She denounced what she called “completely false accusations” and “manipulation” of her words in an interview with broadcaster France 24 on Wednesday.
Speaking via videoconference at a forum in Doha on Saturday organized by the Al Jazeera network, Albanese referred to a “common enemy of humanity” after criticizing “most of the world” and much of Western media for enabling the “genocide” in Gaza.
“And this is a challenge — the fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given Israel political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support,” she said.
Albanese said that “international law has been stabbed in the heart” but added that there is an opportunity since “we now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy.”
Wadephul’s French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot on Wednesday made the same call for Albanese to resign over the comments.
“France unreservedly condemns the outrageous and reprehensible remarks made by Ms Francesca Albanese, which are directed not at the Israeli government, whose policies may be criticized, but at Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable,” Barrot told French lawmakers.
Albanese posted video of her comments to X on Monday, writing in the post that “the common enemy of humanity is THE SYSTEM that has enabled the genocide in Palestine, including the financial capital that funds it, the algorithms that obscure it and the weapons that enable it.”
In her interview with France 24, which was recorded before Barrot’s statement, she contended that her comments were being misrepresented.
“I have never, ever, ever said ‘Israel is the common enemy of humanity’,” Albanese told the broadcaster.
