Energy stakeholders call for flexibility in European electricity market reform
Madrid, Jun 15 (EFE).- Energy sector stakeholders advocated on Thursday, in a new edition of the EFE Forum, that the future reform of the design of the electricity market in the European Union provides sufficient flexibility to address future crises in the sector and greater protection for vulnerable consumers.
The forum, held at the headquarters of the Cervantes Institute and organized jointly with PGE Group, was inaugurated by the Undersecretary of the Ministry for Ecological Transition, Miguel González Suela, who said that “the future renewable model needs to promote flexibility mechanisms such as storage” and design “instruments that protect us from the crisis.”
“We need a new, totally reformed scenario that allows us to build a stress-resilient system, which protects consumers and ensures competitiveness. We must achieve stable and affordable prices, which are the best recipe for consolidating the business fabric and attracting investment,” he said.
For his part, the Polish Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment, Adam Guibourgé-Czetwertynski, said that “in Europe, we aspire to the same objective although we have different strategies,” clarifying that the purpose is to produce energy at “affordable” prices for citizens and SMEs.
For him, “capacity mechanisms continue to be a key aspect for the future” on the road to stability, and he asked for security strategies for the markets in case we do not manage to advance “quickly” in their development.
The Polish deputy minister is confident that, under the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union, which begins on July 1, an agreement will be reached that “gives shape to the new regulation of energy policy” in parliament and the commission.
Nicolás González Casares, MEP of the Group of the European Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and chief negotiator of the European Parliament on the reform of the European electricity market, also participated in the debate to argue that the future will be a mix between “flexibility and support for competitiveness.”
In his opinion, the reform is “an opportunity to take consumers into account and offer them support to enable them to make better decisions.”
In addition, during the EFE Forum round table, the advisor to the cabinet of the Spanish Secretary of State for Energy, Albert Riera, commented that the time has come to “work on generating regulatory stability with credible and acceptable solutions for all member states.”
Along these lines, OMIE’s Director of Technology and Innovation, Pedro Basagoiti, stated that the measures in the new regulations must be of a community nature and, “if there are to be subsidies, it would be preferable for them to be European and not national.”
Finally, PGE’s vice-president for regulatory framework, Wanda Buk, remarked that “there are no one-size-fits-all solutions”, since, for example, “the Iberian mechanism, which worked very well in Spain, would not have worked in Poland.”
Therefore, for Buk it is essential not to forget “flexibility in regulation, which allows solutions adapted to each country”. EFE
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