Spanish electricity demand fell by 6.7% in December compared to the same month of the previous year and after discounting the effects of temperature and working hours. In gross terms, demand is estimated at 20,437 GWh, 7.2% lower than in December 2021. Generation from renewable energy sources accounted for 45.1% of the mix in December. In December, wind energy was the main generation technology in our country. Its production accounted…
The monumental bureaucratic bottleneck that currently exists in Spain in the processing of permits for the installation of renewable energy plants threatens to destroy hundreds of projects if the government does not intervene in the coming weeks. According to various reports handled by the major electricity companies and reported by the newspaper Expansión, the paralysis is already affecting between 2,500 and 3,000 projects, totalling between 80,000 and 100,000 megawatts (MW)…
Fernando González Urbaneja | Several ministers in conversations with journalists have complained about the excessive, extraordinary, abusive… profits of the electricity companies. These adjectives have been heard in Parliament from the mouths of more than a few dubiously documented parliamentarians. It would be desirable for such descriptions to be followed by explanations and figures, because where there are no accounts, stories dominate. To begin with, it would be useful to…
Alphavalue | On Friday last week, Electricité de France cut its 2022 nuclear production target by almost -10% to 300-330 TWh, following extended shutdowns at five of its 56 nuclear reactors (7.3 GW). This is coupled with deadlocked NATO-US talks with Russia over the Kremlin’s military presence on the Ukrainian border. The situation means that if there is less nuclear power, the dependence on Russian gas will be greater. Didn’t we see this problem coming in the last three months when Russia upped the ante on Ukraine?
MADRID | By J.P. Marín Arrese | The Spanish government is thoroughly reshuffling the electricity market. Confronted with a ramping deficit between market prices and overall costs, transferred into automatic commitments to fill the gap, it is taking tough action to curb an unsustainable situation. The unwarranted imbalance is mainly due to an overgenerous policy, implemented by the former Executive, in fostering renewable energies. Fat subsidies, coupled with preferential access to the market, have propelled electricity generation costs. As demand slumped in the crisis, the share of highly expensive green energies markedly increased the toll.