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Jesse Frederik's avatar

I don't think Spain should put the brakes on renewable expansion. The business case for solar is excellent in Spain – way better than in the rest of Europe. The main problem is that Iberia is still functioning like an energy island. It should build more interconnections with the rest of Europe. This should be the main lesson from the blackout: there's plenty of inertia in nuclear France. But just look at the Bay of Biscay interconnector. The project was designated as a Project of Common Interest (PCI) by the European Commission in 2013, and construction only started in 2024, to be finished somewhere in 2028. That's just terrible...

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Borja Roger's avatar

With all due respect, in your business case for even more solar in Spain, have you accounted for:

1) The costs of the needed investments in the grid to manage it?

2) The costs of the planned subsidies for the combines cycle plants (gas) for their capacity?

3) The increase of the costs of the ancillary services for the grid and the increase in compensations to industries for interruptions?

Clearly, the policital message has been that the energy transition only has upsides and has no costs, but on Monday we had a meeting with reality in Spain.

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Alfredo Roccia's avatar

Renewables are only in place because they are subsidized. It's the only way to make them profitable. On the other hand, private investors are craving to build nuclear, since it's also convenient in terms of ROI. But no, people prefer awaiting a miracle like nuclear fusion in 100yrs or, solar power storage, which is probably more than a miracle. In the meantime, you could really build nuclear reactors and producing the lowest carbon in the world, like France or Finland do. Check the data on electricitymaps.com

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