The Alicante Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Services and Navigation and Iberdrola co-hosted a conference on Renewable Energy in Alicante this Tuesday. The event gathered professionals and companies from various sectors to examine current progress in renewable energy deployment and the strategic push toward self-consumption.
Opening remarks were delivered by Jesús Navarro, First Vice President of the Chamber, and Ibán Molina, Iberdrola’s Corporate Delegate. Also in attendance was Julia Company, General Manager of IVACE, who contributed to the discussions on industry support and regional policy.
In his address, Navarro stressed that companies should adopt robust strategies for renewable energy production and self-consumption. He noted that such moves can reduce energy bills while advancing sustainability at a moment of rising gas and electricity costs.
He added that the Chamber of Alicante, along with the Provincial Council, is pursuing actions to strengthen the province’s business fabric through sustainable practices and energy efficiency. The goal is to ensure the financial viability of these initiatives, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed professionals.
Navarro highlighted the Chamber and Council’s backing for a provincial energy community designed to boost sustainability and slash energy costs for municipal bodies, families, and SMEs across the region.
He explained that the chamber aims to promote the use and consumption of clean, sustainable energy sources such as photovoltaics and, above all, to reduce energy bills for small and medium-sized enterprises and the self-employed. The rising electricity prices are a key reason behind this initiative.
Families and SMEs integrated into an energy community can expect direct savings of roughly 25 to 30 percent on their current bills. The approach combines social responsibility with environmental awareness, supported by digitized management. Collaboration, cooperation, sustainability, and economies of scale form the backbone of this project.
Navarro noted that organizations pursuing a sustainable strategy with environmental and societal commitments will stand out as forward-moving companies with a distinctive market brand.
Ibán Molina, Iberdrola’s Valencia Community delegate, described the path toward a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. He framed decarbonization as a major opportunity to create wealth, generate jobs, and improve environmental quality. He also pointed to the recent energy-security debates triggered by global events as justification for investing in renewables to reduce dependency on external suppliers.
Molina outlined Iberdrola’s strategic focus on decarbonizing electricity generation, promoting electrification of demand, advancing electric mobility, and electrifying heat in homes and industry as part of a broader shift to renewable energy sources.
He stressed that the era of self-consumption and distributed generation has arrived, highlighting that the province currently has 140 megawatts of self-consumption capacity and over 15,500 installations. With more than 12,000 companies already connected to the local distribution network, the grid is capable of handling the expected rise in self-consumption thanks to investments in recent years. Electricity networks are becoming more robust, flexible, and smart, and continued support will reinforce them as the true backbone of decarbonization.
The day also featured the participation of Julia Company, who discussed the framework of available aid and subsidies for companies. David Palacios, head of solar communities and collective self-consumption at Iberdrola, attended to explore strategies and novel solutions. José Juan Esplugues, Technician for the General Directorate of Industry, Energy and Mining, reviewed the current legal framework governing these initiatives.
The afternoon shifted to a roundtable on the present and future of energy self-consumption, sharing success stories and ongoing developments in the field. Participants included David Palacios, Ricardo Caso from VRP Electric, Enrique Bonet of Sprinter, Cristóbal Olivares from Applied Engineering, and Juan José Brotons of BBVA, among others. These discussions underscored real-world experiences and practical pathways for broader adoption of local energy generation and consumption models.