The teams of lawyers from the large energy companies were willing on Thursday to scrutinize the fine print of the royal “omnibus” decree published by the Official State Gazette (BOE) with the measures to address the economic and social consequences of the crisis. But the first look at the 150 pages of writing only yields a first conclusion. “There are no details.”
We will have to wait until the general state budgets to know what deductions on investments in decarbonization that large energy companies can apply and then they will calculate whether or not they are sufficient to compensate for the amount of the tax on extraordinary profits and if, as the vice president has criticized, second Yolanda Díaz “it is a fiscal gift.” Because despite its claims, the Government maintains it and threatens to make it permanent after reform.
This change in market conditions, gas and electricity prices are already very far from the highs caused by the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, and precisely for this reason the Government has been forced to dismantle the extraordinary measures it took to alleviate these effects.
Neither the Iberian exception that capped the price of gas used for electricity generation at 65 euros, nor the gas cap that forced large energy companies to market gas to their customers at a maximum price of 67 euros is no longer in force. the MWh. All profits from sales greater than that amount have had to be returned to the State since 2021. From now on, the contracts that are signed will be able to the amount they deem appropriate up to a limit of 180 euros, which is what is currently in force in the European legislation.
With these two exceptions out of order, large companies have two more arguments to defend the inconsistency of the tax in the judicial proceedings they have open against the State. But they are also two fewer arguments to question the attractiveness of the Spanish energy sector for international investors.
Because if the royal decree published yesterday puts weight on anything, it is on the administrative reforms aimed at facilitating, ordering and making the deployment of renewable energies in Spain more attractive. Thus, Rafael Benjumea, president of the Spanish Photovoltaic Union, assured after the president’s announcement that “the measure guarantees the legal certainty necessary to achieve the photovoltaic implementation indicators that delimit the Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) in line with the decarbonization goals for 2030.”
It referred to the extension of the administrative deadlines to develop renewable projects in Spain up to 36 months to achieve the milestone of Administrative Exploitation Authorization, with a prior binding commitment of the choice of the semester of start-up of the project, as well as the extension in six months until 49 the Administrative Construction Authorization (AAC).
The wind industry association, AAE, has expressed itself along the same lines. On January 25, the deadline for more 8,000 MW of wind power to obtain the AAC expired and an administrative saturation similar to that suffered by the photovoltaic sector in January 2023 was looming. “The extension of the final milestone for obtaining the administrative authorization for exploitation (AAE) is coherent and necessary to allow financing and construction processes in better conditions for the value chain, without temporal pressures that could generate distortions in prices or greater risks. financial,” they say. They also celebrate the extension to nine years of the deadlines for developing offshore wind projects.
On the other hand, Enagás, the gas infrastructure manager, has received authorization to operate as “provisional” manager of the hydrogen backbone network. “This is a necessary measure to meet the European objectives of decarbonization and energy independence, and is in line with what other European countries such as Germany and Holland are already doing,” the company welcomes.