Spain takes the baton of the reform of the electricity market with a meeting with the big companies

2023-07-10 22:02:48

spain take the baton reform of the electricity market with a tripartite meeting with the European employer of large electric Eurelectricand the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Samson, as prior to informal summit of ministers of energy that is celebrated this Tuesday and Wednesday in Valladolid within the framework of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union. At the meeting, the European lobes has insisted on his Red lineswhich happen to avoid making permanent emergency measures, such as capping the income of inframarginal power plants, or imposing regulated prices on existing generation.

In addition, the electric companies have asked the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Riberathe promotion of long-term energy contracts (ppa), some more flexible financial rules that allow the liquidity of market participants, evidence of financial stress to marketers instead of mandatory coverages and give investment incentives in the network, as well as the possibility of investing in this infrastructure in advance.

According to the companies, the huge amount of renewable in the system, as well as the greater penetration of heat pumps and electric vehicles will cause the networks to manage more complex flows, which is why they consider that the investment must triple going from 23,000 million euros a year to, at least, 69,000 million in 2050.

At the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the summit of ministers in a hotel on the outskirts of the city, the vice president of Eurelectric and CEO of Fortum, Markus Rauramoand the general secretary of the employer, Christian Ruby. But there has also been a broad representation by the Spanish employers’ association Aelec, in charge of its president, its general director and its director of regulation, Marina Serrano, Paloma Sevilla and Marta Castro, respectively; as well as the CEOs of Endesa and Iberdrola Spain, José Bogas and Mario Ruiz Tagleand the CEO of EDP Spain, Ana Paula Marques.

On behalf of the Government, in addition to the third vice president, the Secretary of State for Energy, Sara Aagesenand the general director of the IDAE, John Groizard

The Spanish position is in favor of a greater interventionism in the electricity market. The heart of his reform proposal called for a regulated fixed price for nuclear and hydraulic power plants, just what companies try to avoid at all costs, especially in the second case. But in her role as president of the Council of the European Union, above all Ribera now seeks expedite the times to reach the end of the year with an agreement.

The role of Spain since July 1 is precisely – beyond its own interests as one of the Twenty-seven – that of referee of the electrical reform, to the mark the times and the agenda of legislative work. The intention of its predecessor, Swedenwas to have reached an agreement on the general approach of the Council on June 19, but the negotiation stuck due to the lack of consensus on how redistribute income of the contracts for difference and which production facilities they affect (only new investments or also existing ones), among other issues.

The groups of European Parliament They have reached an agreement that they must vote on July 19. In this case, as the electric companies want, the limit on the income of the inframarginal centralsbut the ban on power outages to vulnerable consumers, which also undone Eurelectric. Spain wants “as soon as possible” to reach an agreement within the Twenty seven to start, like this trialogue which involves the negotiation between Parliament, the Council and the Commission with the aim of reaching an agreement before December 31 of this year.