Eurelectric believes there is “huge growth potential” from renewable energy sources, but warns it will be a “major frustration” if there are regulatory issues preventing much-needed energy transition. “The industry is very keen to contribute to the very ambitious goals that have been set, but if the company does not appear in the short term, the capital will not be mobilized and the projects will not start,” warns the secretary general of the association that represents the European industrialists of electricity.
It is about the process of electricity market reform, which is under discussion in the European Union, in which Kristian Ruby believes that the attempt to impose maximum caps on electricity prices means “punishing renewable energy sources”.
Eurelectric’s general secretary was one of the speakers at the conference “We choose the Earth” organized by EDP in Madrid and spoke with DN/Dinheiro Vivo on the sidelines of the event. He says electricity market reform in Europe was based on a “reasonably balanced” proposal from the European Commission, which intends to “maintain most of what we have built over these 30 years of market liberalization and protect consumers from extreme market volatility”. , and giving signs [positivos] to investors”.
And he explains: “Putting a cap on electricity prices when they rise a lot in a certain technology, because they generate big profits, may even seem like a good idea at first, but in fact it means that we are penalizing renewable energy” . Which leads to punishment and making energy purchase agreements less attractive. “Even if it were a good idea, how are we going to implement it? Who is going to advance this money, with what system? There are still some very complex questions that still need to be answered,” he says.
Despite these “tempting ideas”, the civil servant thinks it is important not to lose sight of the general picture. “We started with a reasonable reform proposal, with some minor details that can be worked out, but now, with the political process, which has a large entropic component, we are looking at something much more confusing and potentially damaging to the stability of investors. We have tabled more than a thousand amendments by Members of the European Parliament. It is very complicated,” he emphasises.
Kristian Ruby even speaks of a “curious obsession” with electricity’s role in the energy crisis the world is experiencing, remembering that it was fossil fuels that caused it and oil companies that benefited most from it. “It seems to me a political paradox that we have a situation where the fossil fuel industry, which we want to get rid of, is making money like never before. And the political consequence we draw from this is deciding to regulate electricity, which should be the solution to replace fossils? It is a paradox that can slow down investments in this area,” he warns.
And he adds: “All those investors who have been waiting for green projects to emerge – and are going slow because of licensing and all these issues – are seeing huge profits and generous dividends being paid by the oil companies and that is why that is where they put their money. in quitting. And there is a decline in many of the big companies in their fossil investments. We’ve seen that at BP, we’ve seen that at Shell and there’s no shortage of other examples.”
Source: DN
