Spain’s Energy, Transport, Trade, and Tourism Sectors
Spain’s Energy Infrastructure
The Spanish high-voltage electrical network is managed by the company Red Eléctrica de España. It takes care of the electrical infrastructures that form the transport network and connect generating plants with distribution points to consumers. The transport network of this company consists of 33,669 km of high-voltage lines and 3,000 distribution substations.
Natural Gas Distribution
Natural gas is distributed through a network of 7,752 km of pipelines in the peninsula. From Morocco and below the narrow waters of Gibraltar, a pipeline carries gas from the site of Hassi R’Mel, in Algeria, including the pipeline that connects to Irun and Larrau, part of the European distribution network across France. The pipeline network is 3,835 km long.
Petroleum Products Distribution
The distribution of petroleum products starts with a series of ports that have facilities to receive oil from import countries. These ports process the oil and apply the necessary treatments to obtain gasoline, kerosene, diesel, lubricants, tar, and other products.
Energy Saving Initiatives
Saving Energy: The Spanish state government put into practice an energy-saving and efficiency plan in the period 2008-2011 with the aim of reducing oil imports by 10% and CO2 emissions.
Transportation in Spain
Transportation is a basic factor of the spatial, social, and economic organization of a country. Road transport is the most widespread in Spain. It reaches everywhere and is the most used for freight and passenger transport, at the expense of severe congestion problems in metropolitan areas and a significant environmental impact.
Intensity of Road Use
Intensity of use: This indicator shows very heavy use along the Mediterranean coast, much of the central Cantabrian coast, and the peninsula. There are areas with average intensity, such as the Ebro valley.
Rail Transport
Rail transport is the second most important mode of transport in Spain after road transport, and it is also being further developed. Over 90% of the rail network is owned by Adif (Administrator of Railway Infrastructures) and is operated by Renfe Operator.
Maritime Transport
Maritime transport plays an important role with regard to foreign trade, especially long-distance trade (Asia, etc.), where it is remarkably competitive. Sea freight traffic of all kinds has increased, especially containerized freight. This type of transport has the advantage that the products may be landed quickly and easily distributed by rail or road.
Air Transport
Air transport has experienced great development in Spain, especially as far as the volume of passenger transport. This growth is due to the spread of low-cost flights. An example is shown at Girona airport, which in 2007 experienced an increase in passengers of 34.2% over the previous year.
Internal Trade in Spain
Internal trade is strongly developed, especially in the most populated and well-connected areas. This trade has developed so that small traditional shops have lost importance while large supermarkets and shopping centers have gained importance. The main commercial areas of the state are located around the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, and Alicante.
Spain’s Financial Sector
Financial Sector: Spain has undergone a very important transformation in recent decades, mainly caused by the globalization of the economy and the startup of the Euro. This has forced firms to undergo concentration processes to improve their competitiveness. Thus, the number of banks and savings banks has been declining, both due to the disappearance of smaller entities and the union of the largest.
Tourism Sector in Spain
Tourism Sector: Tourism is one of the engines of the Spanish economy. The overall tourism sector employs many people in restaurants, hotels, travel agencies, shops, museums, etc., and thanks to the foreign exchange income, it can pay part of the country’s foreign trade deficit. Spain is the second-largest tourist destination in the world after France. The autonomous region with the largest number of hotel rooms is the Balearic Islands, followed by Catalonia and Andalusia.
Domestic vs. Foreign Tourism
Tourism from abroad and outdoors represents two-thirds of the volume of tourist movement, while Spanish, or domestic tourism, represents the other third. Foreign tourism comes from the EU. The ratio between domestic and foreign tourism varies greatly among autonomous regions. While the most important tourist centers are predominantly foreign, the rest of the regions are dominated by domestic tourism.
Sources of Energy
Sources of energy are crucial in advanced societies, as they are large consumers. This makes the operation, control, use, and distribution of these sources have significant economic implications, social impact, and spatial impacts.