“We have 2.8 billion euros planned to invest but we will modulate them according to regulatory security. If the energy transition is not profitable for companies and does not generate a benefit for society, it will not be possible.” This was the warning that José Casas Marín, director of Institutional Relations and Regulation of Endesa, issued this Thursday during his speech at the Energy and Industry Forum, which Enerclub organized this Thursday in collaboration with CEOE.
Marín has not been alone in his claim, along the same lines, although without concrete data, stated Mario Ruiz Tagle, CEO of Iberdrola Spain. “We are risking everything in the next 5 or 10 years,” he warned, while demanding that the European Union “join efforts to define stable legislation that allows society to understand the benefits that the transformation can bring.” energy”, Tagle has asked.
Representing Repsol, the company sponsoring the event, the general director of Energy Transition, Technology, Institutional and deputy to the CEO, Luis Cabra, has reproached Europe for “unnecessarily restricting raw materials that are perfectly viable” to boost the decarbonization process. Cabra has demanded that Europe, in the review process that the current legislation on energy transition must follow, take into account that the necessary investments need to be profitable or they will not be.
“To restrict is to put the investment at risk. You cannot want renewable fuels only for aviation. We need them to also be allowed for the highway to be able to take advantage of the necessary investments that must be made in the refineries. Otherwise it will be very difficult,” he assured.
The day in which, in addition to the aforementioned executives from the electrical sector, a wide representation of various industrial sectors was present, from the cement industry, such as Holcim, to the chemical industry such as Dow Chemical, including Banco Santander and the technology company Microsoft. that if there is something that regulation in Spain must urgently address to prevent investment flight, it is the bureaucratic issue. “Administrative agility is very important, as well as developing mechanisms to encourage social acceptance. The problems are endless and the deadlines are very tight. Either there are changes that ensure and expedite long-term investments or we do not reach the objectives in time,” warned Yolanda Fernández Montes, director of Environment, Sustainability, Innovation and Climate Change, EDP.
And, despite all the efforts for electrification made by the Spanish and European governments, the truth is that “we are facing a worrying drop in electricity demand that puts at risk all the investment that is being made in generation.” Antonio González-Lamuño, director of Business Development at TotalEnergies Electricity and Gas, has warned.
