Last week a new edition of Transfiere, the European Forum for Science, Technology and Innovation, took place and this year again had an Energy Table in which we participated from olivoENERGY.
Moderated by Daniel Ramos Blasco from FI Group, the round table “The future of the energy transition: enabling technologies and new enabling technologies and new business models”, included the participation of leading industry experts such as: Sofía Núñez Mier, Head of project development, hydrogen and water resource management at Ansasol, Miguel Rodrigo, Director of development of new business models and competitiveness of IDAE, Ana Yurena, Innovation technician of Iberdrola, and Alicia Carrasco, CEO of olivoENERGY.
Challenges, barriers and solutions
The debate was structured in three blocks: challenges, barriers and innovative solutions to boost the energy transititon that left us with interesting reflections.
In the first block, the experts identified the main challenges we face in driving the energy transition: Miguel Rodrigo, from the IDAE, commented that “in the ambitious decarbonization targets for 2030 have been set in the PNIEC, but renewable energy generation does not go hand in hand with the availability of flexibility solutions, and this growth in renewables needs to be matched with DSF, storage and electrification of consumption, among others.”
Digitization in order to optimize processes and minimize costs so that the positive impact reaches the consumer, and the electrification of demand were other challenges pointed out by the speakers, as well as the urgent need to decarbonization of the industry. In this regard, Ana Yurena insisted that “the main challenge of decarbonization is in the demand side: a lot of coal is still being burned. There is a huge need to decarbonize transport and industry”.
It is necessary to inform the end consumer of the flexibility measures that they can take to be able to have a more proactive participation, as well as an impact on reducing as well as an impact on the reduction of their bill
To achieve these ambitious objectives, it is necessary to eliminate barriers that currently prevent the energy transition progressing at the desired pace. From Iberdrola, Ana Yurena emphasized that “we need more investment and better connections to the grid to reach data processing centers. The need for stable regulation is imperative to attract investors”, while Miguel Rodrigo, from the IDAE, defends that the Spanish public administration is adapting fast and well to the new European cycles (previously 10 years, now 3 years) and states that the government has a clear and concise planning.
As far as hydrogen is concerned, finding hydrogen offtakers continues to be a headache. The high costs of CAPEX, infrastructure investments, and slow project processing (environmental authorizations) are the main barriers identified by Sofía Nuñez from Ansasol and Alicia Carrasco insists on the need to invest in the development of behind-the-meter resource technologies and to develop the regulatory framework of the independent regulator. “Law 7/2021 proposes the development of the regulatory framework of demand flexibility in a law but we are still waiting for a roadmap from the government. In addition, local flexibility markets are not a reality in Spain yet” adds Carrasco.
To close the panel, the speakers wanted to put the accent on solutions to help drive the energy transition. From IDAE Rodrigo wanted to highlight sandboxes, which establish a bilateral dialogue that “is here to stay”. Iberdrola and olivoENERGY emphasised on the need for platforms to integrate the electricity system, such as a plattform that connects distributed resources such as distributors, marketers and service providers. Ana Yurena wanted to emphasize the need to give more intelligence to the grid in order to operate and make efficient use of all available resources and Alicia Carrasco emphasized the need for solutions such storage need to be able to participate in auctions, and the urgent need to invest in digital solutions to perform adequate monitoring to know congestion and to be able to reinforce the network with more flexibility where needed.
Challenges, barriers and solutions that were highlighted by the different speakers at the round table dedicated to the future of the energy transition. For the second consecutive year, an Energy Roundtable has been included in the Transfiere program, which gives an idea of the interest aroused by the sector.
From olivoENERGY we would like to thank you for the invitation to participate in this edition of Transfiere and we would like to congratulate the organising team for a successful edition of the key European Forum on science, technology and innovation, a Forum of great importance as well for the city of Malaga.
