A few days ago we had breakfast with that renewable associations raised the ‘Fabra report’ to the CNMC to put pressure on utilities. The disagreements that come from far, have gone from a previous state of “cold war” to the current open conflict.
Everything starts with the growth of renewable energy in Spain when grabbing the market share of this generation that had the utilities exclusively. At first, it did not bother them too much, because even invested in large wind farms taking advantage of the new situation. These wind farms needed large investments and gave a new company image environmentally responsible for the utilities. All this, coupled with a good profit that drew launched utilities to install renewable power, which made an initial peace between the two sectors.
The first skirmishes came with photovoltaics. This energy is very peculiar because to be able to settle on a very small scale, they began to grow like mushrooms in the Spanish geography, promoted by anybody else. At this point, there is a before and after in the history of the electricity sector in this country. For the very first time, the utilities did not control much of the business.
In the following years, there was an increase of the tariff deficit in the sector, and utilities did not hesitate to go to the media to demonize renewable energy and blame for all the ills of the sector. They indicated that the increase in premiums for renewable energies was the cause of the deficit.
Little renewable associations could do at that time with their impact reports indicating how beneficial were to society and how its cost was much lower than the profit reported. Benefits in controlling the price of the electricity market, in making a strong competition to traditional plants, benefits in savings of CO2 emissions taxes, job creation, tax revenues, etc.
Still, the message from utilities, with its millions of advertisers, got permeate people’s subconscious, creating a brutal reduction in the remuneration perceived for these plants and supposedly improve the tariff deficit electrical system.
Now the society has said enough, they said no, and associations, both business and citizens, are pushing in all areas so that the truth is recognized. A simple truth is that renewables are not guilty of the tariff deficit and that the system reached a debt of 30,000 million euros because it has been disastrously managed in favor of the benefits of large utilities. Because costs have been recognized some utilities over reality because we have given millions in the nuclear moratorium, in the transition to competition and leave a central unrivaled exploit (such as nuclear and hydro) in some profiteers conditions for nearly 20 years.
Various demands encrypt the extra cost of these inefficiencies, or to put it simply, the total amount of money that we have given to electricity utilities, 80,000 million euros.
Everyone can believe what he sees fit, but they do not cheat me, Presidents executives of large utilities in this country: RENEWABLE ENERGY CREATE COMPETITION AND CHEAPER THE SYSTEM, RENEWABLES ARE NOT A COST THEY ARE THE SOLUTION.
