Iberdrola warns that the electricity sector is suffering a "similar phenomenon" to housing
Appeals to the National Court the remuneration of the investment in electricity grids
SantanderThe housing crisis is dominating economic, political and social discussion at all levels. The CEO of Iberdrola Spain, Mario Ruiz-Tagle, has drawn on this concern to warn that the electricity sector is experiencing a "similar phenomenon" and to demand action.
During his intervention at the UIMP and APIE summer course, Tagle warned that European industry is interested in moving to the Iberian Peninsula "to set up shop" thanks to the fact that it has it has cheaper energy than the European average, but it is facing the "problem" that Spain has network connection requests from industries to which it cannot respond.
According to him, the State has "solid, consistent renewable energy and security of supply", but the competitiveness achieved "must be translated into the economy". In other words: "We have connected all this energy through grids, but we lack the necessary grids to get it out of the pool and bring it to homes and businesses".
Given this situation, Ruiz-Tagle, on the one hand, lamented that investments in the distribution network are "very far from what needs to be invested in the network to guarantee adequate electrification" and, on the other hand, warned that regulation "must go far ahead" of an electrification process that "is happening at an accelerated rate".
In defense of nuclear power
Ruiz-Tagle has assured that Iberdrola has filed an appeal with the National High Court against the investment remuneration of the electricity grids set by the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), that is, against the amount that companies in the sector will receive for building and maintaining the infrastructure. The public body approved this rate to be 6.58% until 2031, but the company had already warned previously that it believes that with this amount, the numbers don't add up for them.
He insisted that the closure of nuclear power plants represents a "significant potential economic risk" and recalled that it is approximately 20% of the total energy generated that will have to be supplied by other sources. "We do not consider it appropriate to close a nuclear power plant with the current situation we have," he stated unequivocally.
Regarding the two proceedings opened by the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) for infringements similar to those of the blackout, he called for "European regulations to be applied" in the governance of the electricity system in Spain, which, according to him, poses "conflicts of interest" between the operator and the grid. "It is not enough for the buildings to be separate, it is about them looking at the grid from a completely different point of view," he argued.
