while in Brussels A high-level forum organized by the European Comission to promote the expansion of electrical networks for the energy transition, in Madrid the spanish companies This Thursday they urged the Government to increase the limit of investment in the networks that exist in this country to be able to connect the around a thousand parks solar and wind projected for the coming years.
“It is essential that the distribution and transportation network is reinforced. And that can only be achieved with a lot of more investment. Naturgy and other companies think that the investment limits and current regulations should be adapted so that more can be invested and invested faster,” announced the president of Naturgy, Francisco Reynésin his speech at the VIII Energy Forum organized by El Economista.
He transportation and distribution They are regulated activities in Spain that are carried out under a natural monopoly regime. In the case of the transport network with Electrical Network (REE) and in distribution with Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy. These companies are in charge of developing the networks but they have a annual investment cap because these investments are paid for by consumers through those of the electric bill via tolls, one of the regulated costs of the electricity bill.
Currently, the maximum investment limit is 0.65% of annual GDP (about 8,626 million euros if calculated with the 2022 GDP) for transport, excluding investments in interconnectionsand of 0.13% of GDP (1,725 million euros following the previous calculation) for the distribution, excluding in this case the investments related to the digitization. Companies have been demanding an increase in these rates for years and even their elimination. In fact, after the pandemic, the Ministry for Ecological Transition temporarily increased the percentages until 2022 to 0.75% and 0.14%, respectively, percentages that represent an amount close to 12 billion euros, according to last year’s GDP.
But now, given the flood of renewable connections that are expected to be made, companies are urging changes in the model. According to the CEO of Endesa, Jose Bogas, this regulatory system “was designed for other times.” “A few moments in which controlled much was done and investment in infrastructure was discouraged. But we have to encourage it and raise the limits,” he explained.
“The way that renewable energies, which are cheaper than those linked to fossil fuels, reach consumers is through transport and distribution networks (…) A significant effort must be made in networks anticipating,” insisted the CEO of Iberdrola Spain, Mario Ruiz-Tagleafter disgracing the Government that the PNIEC does not include ‘ad-hoc’ transport network planning.
But not only the owners of the distribution networks that connect the substations with consumers are asking for changes, Arancha Martínez‘country manager’ in Spain of the renewable company X-Elio, has focused on the need for “dynamic” transportation network planning, which is reviewed every six months and in which changes can be introduced. Currently, network planning is done by six-year terms (the last one was approved in 2022 and referred to the period 2021-2026).
Related news
Just a year ago, in the More Energy Security Plan designed by the Government to face the price crisis derived from the war in Ukraine, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition announced that it would carry out a update of the content of transportation planning to introduce “specific modifications” to “give viability to strategic projects in the short term” and that would launch a new planning for the period 2024-2029, linked to the PNIEC.
In the first case, these are urgent actions derived from the Recovery Plan such as, for example, a substation in Vigo and another in Sagunto for the electricity plants. electric vehicles provided by Stellantis and Volkswagen, respectively, according to sources from that department. As can be seen from royal decree-law 20/2022, of December 27, which announced the beginning of this review, these actions may be financed in part from the European fundswhile the rest will not compute within the limits of the investment.