Sánchez highlights the reform of the European electricity market as a major priority and is committed to boosting interconnections

City BBVA, Madrid

"It is clear that we must make rapid progress on a thorough reform of the European electricity market. And this is something that, in particular, the Government of Spain, jointly with other governments of differing political parties have now been asking the Commission for twelve months", he said during his speech.

The head of the Executive highlighted the need to promote renewable energies and "make a clear commitment to interconnections and new energy storage systems". Sánchez highlighted the European Commission's proposal to develop a hydrogen bank mobilising 3 billion euros, in which Spain is playing a leading role. The President of the Government of Spain stressed the need to "gain strategic autonomy", to save "on the energy bills of companies and households", as well as to reindustrialise the country and turn Spain into "an energy exporting power to the rest of Europe and the rest of the world".

Despite the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the head of the Executive has called for the sustainability goals not to be postponed, but for progress to be made on them. The Government has mobilised more than 30 billion euros this year to protect households, industries and businesses from the war-related inflationary crisis. "And we will continue to propose and provide resources to protect the middle and working classes in our country", he stressed.

Increase in wind and photovoltaic power capacity

Pedro Sánchez has shown the Government's commitment to a fair and urgent energy transition. "We are aware that Spain is particularly exposed to the consequences of the climate emergency", he stressed.

"The aim is to make Spain one of the drivers in Europe and, why not, at global level in this field in which, I insist, we have made great progress and have been on the right track in recent years", he added. In 2019, the Government presented the Strategic Framework for Energy and Climate. Since then, it has approved and implemented the Climate Change and Energy Transition Law, the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) and the Just Transition Strategy.

In addition, the Executive has a Long-term Decarbonisation Strategy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, with potential savings of more than 330 billion euros. "Spain, for the first time, has a package of structural measures for energy transition that allows us to work with medium and long-term planning", said Sánchez.

Between 2018 and 2022, the installed wind energy capacity increased twelve-fold compared to the period from 2015 to 2018; and the volume of photovoltaic energy has increased 142-fold. Likewise, photovoltaic capacity for self-consumption installations doubled in 2021 compared to 2020, a ten-fold increase compared to 2017.

"It is also the consequence of giving signals to investors, of eliminating obstacles that prevented self-consumption and photovoltaic energy in our country, such as the taxation of the sun, the simplification of administrative procedures", as well as "the approval of millionaire subsidies also within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan", explained the President of the Government of Spain.

Nearly 40% of the Recovery Plan's European funds are aimed at boosting sustainability. "We are going to maintain and intensify this commitment in the tranche of loans", Sánchez pointed out in reference to the addendum to the Recovery Plan that the Executive is designing. "Spain, if we look at it in perspective, came late to all the industrial and technological revolutions of the past. This time I believe neither the public nor the private sector are settling. Not only do we want to be part of this revolution, but we also want to play a leading role in the energy revolution, because we have the means to achieve it", he said.

Sustainable investments

The head of the Executive also stressed the importance of the financial sector and sustainable investments in this process. The Treasury has made the sovereign green bond programme a structural element of the financing policy. To date, more than 53 billion euros in green bonds have already been issued, more than a quarter of which have been issued by the public sector.

Non official translation