Ribera refuses to lift the limit on investments in the electricity grid

Minister Teresa Ribera seems ready to ignore one of the main recommendations of the European Citizens’ Group on Energy Efficiency. Discussion forum organized by European Commission and made up of 150 European citizens, issued recommendations that the Minister of Ecological Transition and Demographic Problems and Third Vice-President avoided, at least to a large extent, despite her intention take the leap to Brussels as a Commissioner in the next Community Executive that will emerge after the upcoming European elections.

The group formulated its 13 recommendations Commission at its final session last weekend. It is the last of these points that concerns the need for Europe “Optimization and promotion of the network“from the producer to the end consumer, in favor of renewable energy sources,” all with the aim of achieving energy efficiency goals and increasing energy independence and efficiency, “setting a global example.”

Actually strengthening electrical networks This measure received the most support Among European citizens represented in the said panel, the highest level of support (5.25) and approval (96%) is observed.

However, the secretary of state of Ribera’s transitional ministry announced this week that decided to keep restrictions ongoing investment in networks – a position that runs counter to the “green transition” the government claims to support.

Executive Director who just restored VAT on electricity at a rate of 21%. paid by consumers, the justification being that removing the cap would affect tolls and increase prices for consumers. “Both things are important: investing in networks and achieving affordable and stable prices for consumers. Currently, raising the limit means increasing tolls for consumers,” the energy minister responded in Brussels this week. Sarah Agesen in response to this recommendation from the group.

Aagesen hopes he can cover the necessary investment with European funds without changing the cap introduced during the economic and financial crisis of the last decade to avoid rising energy bills. The formula will be to direct resources in line with the recovery, transformation and resilience plan. “This gives us almost 1 billion

additional euros for these networks. I think this is a big incentive to continue investing in the coming years,” added Aagesen.

The European Commission is concerned about how to ensure that networks have sufficient capacity to support the electrification of a significant part of the production system, which will require €584,000 million investment in the current decade. But the biggest concern is for the industry that lacks access to renewable energy.

Investment uncertainty

This also causes uncertainty among investors in renewable generation, since green energy consumption in Spain is limited, which affects new investments. Industry sources emphasize that almost 6 gigawatts of connection requests were not considered for the network.

Recommendation 13 of the citizens’ group calls on member states to invest in plans to strengthen energy security and sustainability through investments in renewable energy and energy storage research.

Likewise, the document recommends developing an investment plan to improve the network at local and cross-border levels, taking into account the opportunities and benefits of their centralization and decentralization.

For its part, Recommendation No. 10 calls on the EU to invest and conduct research in the development of new energy technologies, including renewable energy sources, to achieve greater energy efficiency, especially in four areas: energy production (including hydrogen, nuclear fusion, etc.), storage , energy transfer, energy consumption reduction.