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What do you mean by low %? Spain produced a plurality of their electricity with wind in the first few months of 2015 at >23%. For the year it looks like that number was >19%.

Also you can't warranty that the windmills are genereting energy when you need it ... you can se the spanish generating of nuclear vs wind power and how the last one variability, versus the stability in nuclear generation.

The link is also available in English

It can be done. Just check how Spain manages to cope with a 41% wind energy electricity production: https://demanda.ree.es/demanda.html Check January 14th, 2010 (January = Enero).

Just FYI

Look at prices of Nuclear generation vs Wind generation at http://www.esios.ree.es/web-publica/
France prices for power are mostly due to nuclear costs, prices in Spain and Portugal have a generous mix of renewables (wind, thermosolar and hidro), prices are auctioned on a hourly basis, so when wind blows prices in spain goes down (i've seen prices in the low €5 Mw)

Also look at wind generation anytime at https://demanda.ree.es/eolica.html it shows a variable generation rate but has a 33% average over installed power, it means we currently have 18 Gw installed power base on windmills, that sometimes generates 15 Gw and other times 1 Gw but in average it accounts as a 6 Gw. sustained generation . And Yes sometimes you need to use Gas generated power (as seen on https://demanda.ree.es/demanda.html )

In general the system here WORKS REALLY FINE, and Spain is not a high wind area, but redundancy, and multilocation of windmills, helps us to keep a high usage ratio of the windmills.

Yes this redundancy is expensive, but also is nuclear power, from building to maintaining and to life long storage of radioactive waste, look at the prices for new nuclear plants and you will see prices up in the $8000 to $10000 for Kw http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/business/energy-environment/29nuke.html, and that's much more expensive (only in building costs) than windmills, that are in the $1200 Kw range for 2 Mw Models.

Just FYI

Look at prices of Nuclear generation vs Wind generation at http://www.esios.ree.es/web-publica/
France prices for power are mostly due to nuclear costs, prices in Spain and Portugal have a generous mix of renewables (wind, thermosolar and hidro), prices are auctioned on a hourly basis, so when wind blows prices in spain goes down (i've seen prices in the low €5 Mw)

Also look at wind generation anytime at https://demanda.ree.es/eolica.html it shows a variable generation rate but has a 33% average over installed power, it means we currently have 18 Gw installed power base on windmills, that sometimes generates 15 Gw and other times 1 Gw but in average it accounts as a 6 Gw. sustained generation . And Yes sometimes you need to use Gas generated power (as seen on https://demanda.ree.es/demanda.html )

In general the system here WORKS REALLY FINE, and Spain is not a high wind area, but redundancy, and multilocation of windmills, helps us to keep a high usage ratio of the windmills.

Yes this redundancy is expensive, but also is nuclear power, from building to maintaining and to life long storage of radioactive waste, look at the prices for new nuclear plants and you will see prices up in the $8000 to $10000 for Kw http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/business/energy-environment/29nuke.html, and that's much more expensive (only in building costs) than windmills, that are in the $1200 Kw range for 2 Mw Models.

Just FYI

Look at prices of Nuclear generation vs Wind generation at http://www.esios.ree.es/web-publica/
France prices for power are mostly due to nuclear costs, prices in Spain and Portugal have a generous mix of renewables (wind, thermosolar and hidro), prices are auctioned on a hourly basis, so when wind blows prices in spain goes down (i've seen prices in the low €5 Mw)

Also look at wind generation anytime at https://demanda.ree.es/eolica.html it shows a variable generation rate but has a 33% average over installed power, it means we currently have 18 Gw installed power base on windmills, that sometimes generates 15 Gw and other times 1 Gw but in average it accounts as a 6 Gw. sustained generation . And Yes sometimes you need to use Gas generated power (as seen on https://demanda.ree.es/demanda.html )

In general the system here WORKS REALLY FINE, and Spain is not a high wind area, but redundancy, and multilocation of windmills, helps us to keep a high usage ratio of the windmills.

Yes this redundancy is expensive, but also is nuclear power, from building to maintaining and to life long storage of radioactive waste, look at the prices for new nuclear plants and you will see prices up in the $8000 to $10000 for Kw http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/business/energy-environment/29nuke.html, and that's much more expensive (only in building costs) than windmills, that are in the $1200 Kw range for 2 Mw Models.

The numbers are here. Right now, Spanish wind power is generating ~10400 MW out of 17600 installed MW (59%, green graph). The yellow graph shows wind power as percentage of total demand (now stands at 38%). (Select "2009-11-08" as date and click "Consultar otra fecha").

Wind has been generating between 7-10 GW in Spain during the last week, check it in the other graphic (labeled as "Eólica"). "Rest. reg. especial" means other tech (biomass, solar, cogeneration), and "Intercambios int." means imports/exports (to/from France, Portugal or Morocco). When hydro turns dark blue, reversible hydro plants are pumping water.

The numbers are here. Right now, Spanish wind power is generating ~10400 MW out of 17600 installed MW (59%, green graph). The yellow graph shows wind power as percentage of total demand (now stands at 38%). (Select "2009-11-08" as date and click "Consultar otra fecha").

Wind has been generating between 7-10 GW in Spain during the last week, check it in the other graphic (labeled as "Eólica"). "Rest. reg. especial" means other tech (biomass, solar, cogeneration), and "Intercambios int." means imports/exports (to/from France, Portugal or Morocco). When hydro turns dark blue, reversible hydro plants are pumping water.

Well. Just look at the graph linked in the article.

https://demanda.ree.es/generacion_acumulada.html

Note that the bottom drops below the zero line every now and then. Just before and after that the net hydroelectric power output drops to zero. I figure that's pumped-storage hydroectric plants filling their storage. Spain has at least 3 gigawatt worth of such plants. It doesn't solve the entire problem at this time, but it will sure help raise your baseline-example of 20GW quite a bit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricity