Think RE

Spain has been transitioning towards a more sustainable future, with renewable energy playing a key role. To support the transition, Spain has implemented several policies and regulations to encourage the adoption of renewable energy sources. ⚡ 🇪🇸

🔹 Renewable energy sources accounted for almost 62% of Spain's total installed capacity of 118 GW by the end of last year. This shows the country's commitment to decarbonizing its energy mix and meeting its climate targets.
🔹 The government has set a target to achieve 74% renewable electricity by 2030. Spain is working towards phasing out coal power generation by 2025, decommissioning oil-power plants by 2030, and phasing out nuclear power completely by 2035.
🔹 PPAs will further play a big role in the renewable energy sector. Spain and Portugal jointly have seen more than 11 GW in renewable PPAs signed since 2017. Spain plans to award at least 20 GW of green capacity in tenders by 2025. They want to add 2.2 GW of wind power per anno to reach 50.3 GW from the technology by 2030.

However, implementing renewable energy projects in Spain has not been without its challenges. In December 2022, the Spanish government published a new Royal Decree-Law about measures affecting, among others, the renewable energy sector. It orders the suspension of the processing of certain administrative procedures affecting projects that do not yet have access and connection permits. This should be a solution against certain agents who have been initiating the first steps in procedures without continuing them, with the aim of blocking other market participants from developing renewable projects.

Despite suspending some projects, Spain has made significant progress in adding new renewable energy capacity. Spain only joined the PPA market in 2018 but has seen great growth there as well. Spain has a total cumulative PPA capacity of 5.690 and 1.068 signed capacity in 2022.

Spain added almost 6.2 GW of wind and solar capacity to the grid in 2022. This is nearly double the 3.7 GW connected in 2021. This addition of new capacity helped the country to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels further and move closer to achieving its renewable energy targets.

Spain's renewable energy mix is evolving, with renewable sources playing an increasingly important role in the country's energy mix. The implementation of supportive policies and regulations, as well as the addition of new renewable energy capacity, will be important to achieving this goal.

📍 This is Pt. 1 of the posts about Spain's renewable energy measures; stay tuned for more.

Energy Transition: What's up in Belgium? Will the phase-out of nuclear stations get further amendments? ⚡🇧🇪

The federal government of Belgium approved a preliminary draft law amending the phase-out law on April 1, 2022. The consultation will continue until May 20, 2023. The gradual phase-out of the use of nuclear power for electricity production on the Belgian territory was regulated by the law of January 31, 2003. The aim of this draft is to authorise the activation of nuclear reactors Doel 4 and Tihange 3 for 10 more years.

Belgian's nuclear history:
🔹 There are 7 reactors in Belgium, out of which 2 have closed. Tihange 2 shut down in February this year and Doel 3 in September 2022.
🔹 The phase-out law of 2003 stipulated that nuclear plants would be deactivated 40 years after the date of their industrial commissioning. All individual licences relating to electricity production by those plants would come to an end at the same time. And no new nuclear power plant for industrial electricity production by fission of nuclear fuels can be established and/or put into operation.

In order to be less dependent on nuclear energy, other renewable solutions are necessary.
🔹 Promoting green energy with long-term power contracts is beneficial for this matter. These long-term contracts are known as PPAs or Power Purchase Agreements.
🔹 Green PPA contracts secure cheaper energy prices, thanks to the tenor of these contracts of 5-20 years. It also secures clean energy, coming from wind or solar farms, which are a good alternative to the increasing scarcity of energy recourses. It is also carbon neutral and is, contrary to nuclear energy, less harmful to the environment.
🔹 Nuclear plants have a big impact on the environment, such as radioactive waste, spent fuel, the radioactive impact on humans and the environment during normal operation, and GHG emissions attributed to the operation.

📍 This was Pt. 1/3 of the posts about Belgium's renewable energy measures; stay tuned to learn more.