The International Energy Agency (IEA) analyst Heymi Bahar believes that boosting investment in renewables in Spain involves giving regulation certainty about what the market will be like in the coming years, especially after the adoption of the tax on large and the gas cap.
This was discussed during the presentation of the AIE’s “Renewables 2022” report, organized this Monday by the Spanish Energy Club, a text that warns that any market intervention -such as the one implied by the new tax- must protect citizens of price volatility, but without having a negative impact on investments in renewables.
In the opinion of the agency’s experts, the proposals proposed in Europe, such as the cap on the wholesale market or the tax on energy companies, can cause uncertainty among investors if they are not well designed or coordinated between countries. And it is that, although there is a “solid justification” behind these measures, the IEA believes that the impact must be evaluated in terms of the potential damage to the ability of renewable energy developers to invest in new projects.
Added to this is the debate on the reform of the European electricity market as a result of the energy crisis, with the aim of promoting the use of these energies, guaranteeing safety and encouraging investment in resources that provide greater flexibility. However, the agency considers it “important” that any proposal be prepared in a careful and transparent way, and involve all the parties found, precisely to avoid uncertainty.
Bahar has spoken about all this, insisting that the implementation of additional taxes on companies in the sector “should not harm” the industry’s ability to invest in new renewables that the Old Continent “drastically needs” to End dependence on Russian gas.
Hence, the IEA maintains that taxes on energy companies are levied only on extraordinary profits and not on income. In Spain, the patrimonial benefit will tax for two years -2023 and 2024, with reference to the accounts of the previous year- the sales of energies with a rate of 1.2%, with the exception of regulated income and those coming from outside Spain. It will affect all electric, gas and oil companies that billed more than 1,000 million in 2019, except those whose energy activity is not the main one; as well as producers of oil or natural gas, coal mining or refining in Spain
“Incredible growth of renewables in Spain”
Bahar has registered the “incredible growth” of the Spanish renewable energy market until before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an evolution that led it to become one of the largest in the region behind Germany.
“And it still is, but it is important to understand how the market will evolve, since then, many changes have been made and many uncertainties have appeared,” he pointed out. He has also spoken about the future reform of the European electricity market, which, he stressed, should be able to address both the need to attract investment in renewables and greater flexibility.
Same progress in the next brightness as in the last 20 years
According to “Renewables 2022”, the concern for energy security once the conflict broke out in gigawatts (GW) between 2022 and 2027. This is a 30% higher increase than what the IEA forecast a year ago, which indicates how quickly governments have taken action.
The report also predicts that renewable energy will account for more than 90% of the growth in global electricity capacity over the next five years. In fact, Bahar has pointed out, in the next five years the progress of renewable capacity will be the same as that obtained in the last twenty years.
In Europe alone, the increase between 2022 and 2027 will double with respect to the five previous years, although it could be higher if the Twenty-seven simplified and reduced the deadlines for obtaining permits, increased the incentives for biofuels and the tecmentari transport that applied to calories
