One of the biggest criticisms is that money is given, but the money doesn't come.
We have supported over 2,400 projects directly as IDAE and over 200,000 projects through independent communities. The main obstacle is on corporate roofs. The government grants assistance, the company implements the project and once it is implemented it is verified that everything is fine and the amount is paid.
One of the goals of the recovery plan was to strengthen Europe's strategic independence, but despite this there is money given to Chinese companies.
In Europe, we want to talk about strategic autonomy, flexibility and sustainability, which seems like an indirect way of saying that we want European industrialization. But the Net Zero Industry Act does not speak clearly about European manufacturing. There is political rhetoric, but we need to be consistent, and this is purely European foreign trade policy.
Renewable energy sources have changed the energy map. What do you think about the return of some kind of energy tax that burdens production in order to benefit these regions?
The responsibility for solving this problem should not be placed entirely on renewable energy sources. But they must be very good neighbors in the area where they settle.
Was there a lack of network or storage planning to be able to incorporate a lot of rolling deployment?
The previous legislature focused primarily on operationalizing rolling stock. This will be more manageable, flexible, warehousing and electrifying of demand.
Why is it necessary to recover your National Energy Commission (CNE) number?
We are moving towards more detailed regulation, both in the regulatory part and in the supervisory part. We will have thousands of agents monitoring to make sure the markets are working. This is the thinking behind creating or restoring the National Energy Commission. Not because the CNMC does its job well, but because energy requires a more specialized level of detail and oversight than was the case now.
Doesn't its punitive capacity weaken by separating it from jurisdiction?
There are great references, from Britain's Ofgem to CRE in France. Energy regulators that have a very good link between the regulatory side and the supervisory side, adhere to this regulation. There are specific competition regulations where the CNMC continues to have this supervisory capacity.
How are you planning to boost electricity with demand that is at historically low levels?
In low demand there is an element of energy efficiency and self-consumption. But we must electrify mobility, heat consumption and air conditioning. With the recovery plan, we are promoting heat pumps and in the field of electric mobility last year we reached December with 15% of electric registrations (hybrid and electric). Spain has enough charging infrastructure. Then in the commercial sector, taxis etc., they start making financial profit because electricity is cheaper than petrol per kilometre.
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But we travel slower than other countries using an electric car.
We see that it is more about perception for the user, who does not integrate the electric car into his daily life. Spain is already a country with electric charging infrastructure three times larger than gas stations, for example.
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