Spain committed itself to the European Union reduce your consumption gas 7% By the end of winter as part of a community strategy to reduce continental dependence on Russian hydrocarbons and protect itself from the Kremlin threat of shutting down the tap. The Spanish Government has already launched the first package of measures (from closing shop windows at 10 pm to limiting thermostats) and is now working on a larger program that it will send to Brussels this month to determine if what has been promised has been fulfilled. savings target has been achieved.
In the midst of the race to cut consumption, power companies are strongly increasing the use of gas power plants to generate electricity due to the decrease in production from hydroelectric power plants due to drought in recent months, lower contribution of renewable and renewable sources. with It covers the increasing electricity exports to France due to the shutdown of more than half of its nuclear power plants.
The extra demand needed by the French market, increased combined cycle production (plants that burn gas to produce it) and the Government are responsible for the use of this additional gas to meet the energy needs of the neighboring country in the event of a crisis. The 7% savings committed to Brussels can be deducted from the account.. But European Commission leaves Spanish plan in the air and it is not conclusive that the Executive can use this exception.
Currently, the savings targets set for member states are optional, but if the measures taken are not sufficient to reduce the risk of supply disruption, the European Commission declare a state of alarm and makes the targets mandatory for countries. The Council of Europe Regulation provides for exemptions from compliance with these mandatory targets, and the Spanish Executive believes that France can add one of these to not count the increase in energy as its consumption to meet its needs.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition, led by Teresa Ribera, understands that the European Union Regulation regulating energy savings itself supports this exemption and that gas used to generate electricity exported to France can be excluded from committed consumption. and reaching record levels.
Article 5.8 of the Regulation states that “any Member State faced with an electricity crisis, temporarily limit forced demand reduction (…) at the level necessary to reduce the risk to the electricity supply, provided there are no other economic alternatives to replace the gas needed to generate electricity without seriously compromising the security of supply”.
The gas consumed by Spanish power plants to boost electricity exports to France, which is affected by the problems of its nuclear power plants, could benefit from this exception, according to comments by its technicians, sources from the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
Interpretation of the Spanish Government. But Brussels is long and at this time does not clarify how these exceptions can be expressed. and whether Spain can cut energy exported to France from its savings target.
“The EU alert has not been announced yet, so Article 5 is not applicableOfficial sources of the European Commission point to El Periódico de España, a newspaper of the same group called Prensa Ibérica, with this newspaper. “The Commission cannot speculate on hypothetical behavior and will review the application of the clause if a warning is issued and if applicable”, agrees from the Community Executive.
The position of the Spanish manager is clear. “It would not make sense for Spanish citizens, companies and governments not only to have to save 7% of their consumption, but also to take into account that. they need more energy for their own problems on the other side of the border.”, explains this paper Joan Groizard, executive director of the Institute for Energy Diversification and Conservation (IDAE) and one of the main responsible for the development of energy savings plans drawn up by the Government.
“What we will not do is impose on ourselves the additional gas consumption corresponding to the fact that France needs more electricity. We understand that industries, companies, families and consumers in Spain must meet this 7% savings target, but we won’t save much beyond that because france has a problem with nuclear ones,” says Groizard. “It would be absurd to cut the interconnection to reach our goal. Then the solution would be to stop the interconnection and stop the export. A European arrangement that implies that the determining factor of whether I meet the savings target is whether I make the interconnection jump doesn’t make sense”.
Production doubled with Spanish combined cycle power plants in August Compared to last year, it concentrated one-third of all electricity produced in Spain, according to data from Red Eléctrica de España. So far this year, the activity of gas power plants has grown by almost 90% and is the main source of electricity generation with 24% of the total. All this at a time when gas prices are high due to uncertainty in Russian supply.