MADRID, May 8 (Reuters) - Spanish gas consumption could rise 10.1 percent this year to meet increasing demand from electricity generators to offset the impact of a drought and variations in wind power, distributor Enagas said on Thursday.

Chairman Antonio Llarden told a gas industry convention that Enagas expected consumption to rise to 449,580 gigawatt-hours in 2008, on top of a 4.3 percent rise in 2007. "Our projections have risen for one simple reason: there's no water," Llarden said.


Parts of Spain have had their driest winters since 1949 and hydroelectric generation in the first four months of the year fell by 48.5 percent from the same period in 2007.

Data from national grid operator REE show that combined-cycle gas plants have generated some 32,000 GWh for the year to date, or 34 percent of demand, compared to 13 percent for wind power and 7 percent for hydroelectricity.