Reform yes, but without public intervention. This is the position that the electricity sector transmits before the proposal of the Spanish Government sent on Tuesday to the European Commission to reform the European electricity market.
These sources recognize that the marginalist market in which renewable energies offer at zero price is not the most appropriate for an energy mix dominated by these energies, since there would be no price signals. The idea that auctions in the market are the ones that can become the new benchmark, as also included in the Spanish proposal, sounds much better to them, so as to ensure a return on investments in the sector.
Cap yes, but with margin for the market to work
What they do not like in any case is the possibility that it is the Government or an organization linked to it, which sets prices in line with the intention of Vice President Teresa Ribera’s team, in the cases of nuclear and hydroelectric energy.
“That there is a cap so that prices do not skyrocket in exceptional situations makes sense, but it should be applied along the lines in which the European Union has proposed it, a high cap and as long as the market sets the prices. That is the criterion that should prevail”, have commented sources from the sector.
Teresa Ribera
European interest in the proposal
The idea could go, according to what they say, in a similar line to the one that Europe chose a few months ago to set a ceiling of 180 euros as the maximum remuneration for the different electricity generation technologies “A high ceiling that allows the fluctuation of the market for most of the of time, not as it happens in Spain, where they have reached 67 euros, a much more interventionist measure”.
For her part, Vice President Teresa Ribera confirmed during her participation in the Spain Investor Day that is being held these days in Madrid, that she has received “great interest” in this proposal among her European partners. She acknowledges that “the proposal may contain ideas that seem interesting and others that may seem more complicated”, but until the commission presents her proposal, the conversations will not begin.
Long process in the European Union
“The proposal addresses the problems identified by experts in this sector. In any case, it is a long process in which the European Commission will assess all the information available to it and present it to us to open a general debate among all the countries”, added Ribera
The minister has also spoken about the expiration on January 25 of the rights of access and connection to the networks of many renewable projects that are still stuck, ensuring that the majority of the autonomous communities have expressed that they are in a position to solve the situation for that day.
On the contrary, other regions have expressed their concern about not being able to arrive on time, although the minister recalled that an extension has already been offered and that this has lasted more than a year and a half.
