Renewable energy will be key for the Spanish electro-intensive industry.

The new Statute for Energy-Intensive Consumers, currently in draft form, will seek to incentivize the consumption of renewable energy by energy-intensive industries.

The Spanish government is currently drafting the new Statute for Energy-Intensive Consumers, which will affect Spanish heavy industry and will include a guarantee fund, called FERGEI, that will incentivize the purchase and sale ofrenewable energybetween electric companies and large consumers such as the country’s energy-intensive industry.

As reported by several specialized websites, such asPV-MagazineAccording to Ileketro, this draft bill would include a €200 million guarantee fund to promote medium- and long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) and, in turn, reduce energy costs for large consumers, thereby increasing competitiveness in the industrial sector. These same sources indicate that the fund would cover a maximum of three years and €600 million, with the General State Budget ultimately determining any potential increase to this new resource for industry.

This new law, whose approval deadline is set for February 29, appears to make no distinction between the two types of consumers it would affect: energy-intensive and hyper-energy-intensive industries. An energy-intensive user is defined as a consumer whose consumption exceeds 40 GWh annually, and whose consumption during the hours corresponding to tariff period 6 is equivalent to at least 50% of their total energy consumption.

Renewable energy now accounts for half of Spain’s electricity generation capacity

A new year begins in the energy sector, and Spain is doing so by closing the book on 2019, a year in which almost half of its electricity generation capacity, 49.3%, came from renewable energy sources. This figure, which translates to 108,000 megawatts (MW), was reached after a year in which renewablesThey had 5,000 new MW of green energy available.a trend that seems set to continue in 2020.