The energy tensions resulting from the war in Ukraine have turned Spain’s profile on the European energy table upside down. Its peripheral location has gone from being a handicap to becoming a strategic asset that has positioned it as a strategic supplier at the worst time of the energy crisis.
Russia’s cutoff of gas supplies through gas pipelines put Spain in the crosshairs of all of Europe in 2022. 40% of the gas consumed by Europe came from Russia and it was necessary to look for alternatives. Spain, with six regasifiers in its territory (more than any other country in Europe), became the gateway to liquefied natural gas (LNG), essential to replace the Russian supply.
Spain was a gas exporter to neighboring countries for the first time in 2022. The country bought 7.4% more natural gas, but exports soared 91% to 68,214 GWh (up 37%, LNG ). It far exceeded the 35,756 GWh exported in 2021 and was well above the 13,103 GWh exported before the pandemic, according to CNMC data. “The El Musel regasification plant has been opened after years to function as a strategic storage for countries like Germany, which bring the gas to Spain in large ships and then channel it to their territory with other smaller ones because they don’t have the capacity for more”, explains Luis Deza, Director of Energy at the consultancy Mazars.
In addition to exporting, Spain used the gas to produce more electricity with the aim of providing service to neighboring countries. Only since the exceptional measures to respond to the war were put in place, in August 2022, and until the month of April, Spain exported 9.4 terawatts to France, compared to an average in the same period of the five previous years of 3.9 terawatts. Exports to Portugal, a country whose electricity production is closely linked to hydropower, amounted to 3.8 terawatts.
“These exports are limited by the few electricity and gas connections in the country”, assures Alexandre Danthine, energy expert for the Iberian market at the consulting firm Aurora.
But if there is one thing that changes Spain’s role on the energy table, it is not fossil energies, but the right bet on renewable energies.
The sun and wind of Spain place it in one of the first places in the world ranking of producers. Forecasts by the consulting firm Aurora indicate that renewables will generate 80% of total production in 2030. In May, there were specific moments in which renewable energy was able to cover 100% of demand.
“It is still a specific issue. It will be possible in the future, but Spain must make an effort so that its electricity system efficiently accommodates all the renewable capacity that is currently approved. It may be necessary to extend the date of entry into operation of all the projects to be able to give them entry. But in the long term, it will be done”, says Danthine.
And it is precisely this renewable energy power, which is also obtained at lower prices than in the rest of the European Union countries, that has positioned Spain as a destination of interest for national and international investment for another of the energy vectors of the future, the production of green hydrogen. It is the energy vector in the best position to facilitate the decarbonisation of the most energy-intensive industries, as well as heavy transport by road, sea and air.
The main shipping company in the world, Maersk, has chosen the coasts of Andalusia and Galicia as centers to invest 10,000 million euros in the production of green methanol, derived from hydrogen, with which Spain will become from 2030 in one of the supply hubs for the company’s ships, which ply the entire planet. The launch of the H2Med, the underwater hydrogen pipeline that will connect Barcelona and Marseille to channel this gas to Central European industry, is also planned for this year.
In 2022 Spain was the second country in the world, only behind the United States, with the most announced projects to develop green hydrogen, 20% of the total. According to the European Hydrogen Backbone, by 2050 the Iberian Peninsula should be generating 33 million tons per year. Of the latter, 27 million could be dedicated to export, once internal needs are covered. If everything that has been planned is fulfilled, Spain’s energy importing role could definitely go down in history.
