- The country is in a privileged position to meet this challenge: it has the required resources and industry and the renewable technologies needed to achieve this transformation are already available and competitive
- The extent of the investments to be made and the necessary advance in the electrification of the economy requires certainty and regulatory stability
The Energy and Climate Package - made up of the Draft Climate Change and Energy Transition Act, the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan and the Just Transition Strategy - announced today by the Spanish Government, represents a roadmap for meeting the European environmental objectives for 2030, oriented towards an emissions-free, competitive and safe energy model.
The decarbonisation strategy is very positive for Spain and pointing the transformation towards a more sustainable, clean and competitive energy model is a great opportunity for the country.
Spain is in a privileged position to tackle this challenge and it must make the most of this opportunity: it has the resources [sun, wind and reservoirs that can be used for energy storage], industry and know-how and the technologies to achieve this profound transformation, its renewable energies are already available and competitive. Under these conditions, the cost of decarbonisation is significantly lower than the risk of inaction.
The energy transition will generate benefits for the country and all its citizens, not only in environmental terms, but also in terms of energy dependency, security of supply, electricity prices and improved health. This process will make it possible to boost economic growth by acting as a territorial backbone and it will revitalise industry and provide stable, high-quality jobs.
Regulatory certainty and stability to kick-start investment
The framework for action published by the Government in the Energy and Climate Package provides for the mobilisation of public and private investments worth 2 billion euros to make the energy transition a reality. This will require the planned and orderly deployment over the next decade of a renewable energy capacity never before installed, and efforts must be pooled among all the agents involved: administrations, regulators and investment companies.
Along with the roll out of renewables, electricity grids are the key to managing new installed capacity, as well as to integrating self-consumption and electric vehicles. An attractive framework for investment must be consolidated, administrative procedures must be streamlined and the criteria for connecting renewables must be adapted to new needs.
Iberdrola believes that companies are prepared to invest in the energy transition and financial institutions are willing to provide the necessary financing. All that is needed is for a long-term regulatory framework to be established that will bring certainty and stability to investments, remove barriers and promote the fair allocation of implementations costs.
Electricity, the energy of the future
The Energy and Climate Package gives the electricity sector a fundamental role in meeting the objectives, consolidating it as the energy of the future and the only one capable of integrating renewable technologies on a massive scale.
At present, electricity represents only 25% of total energy consumption in Spain, so even if a 100% decarbonised electricity sector is achieved, the European target for renewables in final consumption would not be reached.
It was, therefore, expected that electrification goals would be set, mainly in transport, facilitating the development of renewables in transport and the reduction of emissions. In this context, environmental taxation, based on the polluter pays principle, is a necessary instrument to avoid distorting competition between energies: petrol, gas and electricity.
The legislative package presented provides for the progressive replacement of coal and the orderly closure of nuclear power plants, and it will therefore be necessary to establish mechanisms for dialogue and policies for the sectors most affected.
