MADRIDAfter the agreement with Brussels to reduce gas consumption in Spain by up to 7% over the next eight months, the Spanish government has set about it. Although he still has two months of margin (until the end of September) to complete the contingency plan that he must present to the European Commission, this Monday he took a first step and approved an energy saving plan that affects the sector private “It’s a first package”, said this Monday the Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, in charge of directing the preparation of the plan which, for now, is aimed at companies and not households.
This is a set of measures approved by the extraordinary council of ministers today, Monday, and which follow the path marked by the plan for energy savings in the public administration, approved in May by the executive of Pedro Sánchez . The government is thus moving towards reducing gas consumption in order to be more “efficient and sustainable” and, above all, to increase fuel reserves in the face of a difficult winter: Russia is reducing gas supplies and Europe fears that turn off the faucet at any time. In fact, this weekend Lithuania was added to the list of countries with a total cut.
temperature monitoring
The temperature regulation of the thermostats is the star measurement. In the same way as in public administration buildings that depend on the State, the government’s plan wants the air conditioning to be set at a temperature that does not fall below 27 degrees in the summer, while the heating it should not exceed 19 degrees. The measure will be mandatory and will be applied by workplaces, spaces linked to transport, such as train stations or airports, and large commercial or cultural centres. “One degree of the thermostat can represent 7% of the electricity consumption on the bill,” said Ribera in a press conference after the council of ministers. In any case, Ribera has also emphasized that the measure “will be able to incorporate flexibility depending on the working conditions that the workers need”.
In terms of lighting, shops will be asked not to have their window lights open after ten o’clock at night, as well as public buildings that are not in use or monuments. All of this must be activated, at most, after seven calendar days from the entry into force of the measures in Official Gazette of the State (BOE). The measures will be in force until November 2023, according to Ribera, who added that the autonomous communities would control it and that in case of non-compliance, sanctions would be applied.
establishments
The decree approved by the council of ministers will also urge to keep the doors of the establishments closed as long as possible, so as to prevent the cold or the heat from escaping the space and, therefore, losing energy capacity. This would also affect large establishments, such as shopping centers, hotels or banking institutions. These buildings will also have a margin of time (until September 30) to be able to count on this door closing system.
Another point of action will be the boilers. The text will include the obligation to review the boilers of companies and businesses much more regularly to avoid inefficiencies in the use of energy. This affects the spaces where the last review was before the month of January 2021.
efficiency
Ribera also explained that for the public sector, the contract law has been amended so that contracts related to energy efficiency are awarded through the emergency route. 350 million euros have also been approved in aid to increase efficiency in companies.
Depending on the communities
The Ministry of Ecological Transition has also urged the autonomous communities, as well as the town councils, to approve plans similar to the energy saving plan for the State Administration. In fact, in mid-July the portfolio led by Teresa Ribera sent a letter to the heads of the communities in this area in which they asked to “extend savings, energy efficiency and mobility measures to the area of regional administration sustainable”, according to the letter to which this newspaper had access.
The Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda points out that since 2007 there has been an energy saving and efficiency plan which affects the ordinary activity of the public administration and which is renewed every four years. In fact, work is currently being done on its renewal (the current one has been in force since 2018), sources from the department explain to ARA. The same sources state that it is necessary to know, once it is approved, the fine print of the Spanish contingency plan “to be able to assess it” and see how it affects Catalonia. The question is what will be asked of the communities in the face of the need to reduce gas consumption by up to 7%. As an example, Catalonia has a lot of petrochemical industry that is very dependent on gas.