Congratulations to the Polytechnic University for this Conference on Renewable Energies. I read in La Vanguardia at the beginning of this month that in November 35.4% of the energy generated came from renewable sources, in a month that is not the best for solar energy, and this is already a very good starting point. From here there are three effects that have occurred and that will mark the near future:
- In Spain in 2017, 8GW (around 16,000 football pitches) were auctioned off between solar and wind energy installations. Some more than others outside those auctions. In other words, solar panels and windmills are already being installed on a massive scale.
- In October, the sun tax disappeared, and the Act regulating self-consumption (administrative and technical conditions) is imminent.
- Based on that news, 54.1% of that total energy came from sources that do not emit CO2; and we are committed through the framework of the Paris Agreement of 2015, so we must end any emissions by 2050.
The conclusion of these three points is that the world of renewable energy is booming and unstoppable. As it shows the 3GW to the year that said the Minister of Energy Transition to be installed until 2030.
Our job at Power Electronics is to provide the technology to make this possible. We are a 100% Valencian company, we manufacture everything here, with more than 33 years, 1500 employees and exporting to more than 45 countries. And with a growth that sometimes makes you dizzy.
What we manufacture is the industrial machinery between the solar panels and the electrical network, between the batteries and the electrical network, between the electric cars and the electrical network. Everything that happens in between is what we do and it’s called Power Electronics.
On security of supply, which is the central theme of the table. Well, we are heading towards a world that is becoming more and more electric and that is why it is obvious that more energy is needed. For example, for the millions of electric cars that are expected to come into circulation in the coming years. Luckily, today, the path marked by renewable energy is the cheapest way to generate energy, and the proof of that are our customers themselves. Large corporations with solar parks up to 500MW.
And this refers to how much more energy we will need (to power all those new electric cars for example), but also very important the “how”, and hence the importance of installation with batteries and storage.
So, we have an incredible near future in the world of renewable energy and it’s a pleasure to see you in the front row.
Debate: if more and more energy is needed, do you think it is technically feasible for more and more of it to be renewable?
On the supply of that energy, the key to putting renewable energy into the grid, is that it is not as predictable as others. And I’m not just talking about the amount of kW, whether it’s sunny or not, or wind or not.
It’s about how these facilities react to a network problem. Ten years ago, our investors only injected, and today, to every place in the world that we go we comply with what is called network code that defines the “how we should behave.
Debate: You talked about electric cars, do you think the energy supply of these cars is possible?
At the end of last month, in an interview, Susana Bañares, head of Intelligent Networks at Red Eléctrica Española (Spanish utility network), spoke of the fact that it is no problematic to add 1,000,000 electric cars on the grid today (and we have not even reached 40,000 electric vehicles, including buses and others). From there we will have to take more steps, but think when there were no cars 50 years ago, that energy jump was more complex than this. The real problem would be if everyone wants to charge at the same time, and for that the batteries are very important.
If we think about it, while we have more cars asking for more energy, there are more electric cars with their battery connected to the network, creating a giant battery, with all the positive that this implies.
