The government plans to launch a new plan for energy-saving measures that further reduce gas consumption in Spain during the first fifteen days of September. This is what was announced Joan Groizard, Director General of IDAE (Institute for Energy Diversification and Conservation) in his trip of two days of interviews in various media. In it, he indicated that he was considering turning off the lighting, which is expendable, with the exception of Christmas.
“The purpose of the new royal decree being prepared for September is a a wider emergency and energy saving plan with simple and easy measures that imply strengthening the existing ones“, indicated the person in charge of the body. The government estimates that Spain can only save half of the commitment made with the EU with the measures already in place. More needs to be done.
And gave some clues. “There will be some measures mandatory and other volunteersbut in any case they do not require big investments or big changes, something that is happening in other countries around us”.
[Ribera cifra en el 7% el recorte de gas que tendrá que aplicar España tras el pacto en la UE]
Among them, the government rules “turn off lights that are used up at certain times”. In this sense, “we need to see what type of lighting is unnecessary, maybe it’s not necessary to have all the lights on all night and everywhere.”
However, he stated that The executive does not consider reducing public street lighting when it is crucial for the safety of citizens.
In this chapter, pcould include extending the switch-off of lights on some monuments or illuminated advertising signs.
Also unwilling to apply these cuts to the city’s Christmas decorations. This type of lighting is becoming more and more efficient and reducing it would probably not result in large savings. “It’s not about saving 0.001% of consumption, Christmas annoys anyone,” he pointed out.
Target
In this way, it seeks to achieve the goal that Spain has agreed with the European Commission. “While the rest of the countries have to reduce their gas consumption with fifteen%us only a 7%“, he recalled.
Brussels’ new “exception” with the Iberian Peninsula is related to the few electricity and gas connections with the rest of the European continent, the low dependence on Russian gas and the fact that gas supplies are highly diversified, both by ship and by pipe.
they don’t stop the industry
Groizard reiterated that the government’s priority is this industry should not stop, nor should it limit gas consumption. “This scenario should be avoided because it would be difficult to decide which plants or which sectors should stop first,” he added.
“We want to ensure fuel for the industry and this is happening because from now on we are all making a collective effort to reduce electricity consumption, which ultimately affects gas consumption,” he added.
[España gasta más gas que hace un año pese a la caída del 9,5% del consumo eléctrico tras el plan de ahorro del Gobierno]
If electricity demand falls, the share of gas-fired combined cycles in the electricity mix decreases. Every 1.8 MWh of gas is needed to generate 1 MWh of electricity, according to data from Bank of Spain.
It is also sought that the population does not give up comfort, “especially in winter, when the heating has to be turned on”.
Grants and incentives
Royal Decree Law 14/2022, approved on 1 August, includes limiting air conditioning to 27ºC in shops, work centers and public transport, and heating parts 19ºC. Also turn off lights in storefronts and public buildings that are not in use, or automatically close access doors From the shops.
“In September, we will include the proposals of the autonomous communities, which have until next Wednesday, August 31, to send them to the Ministry of Environmental Transition, and that a large part of them have not yet been delivered,” recalled Groizard.
Meanwhile, he has already announced that the package of measures to be announced next month will include new aid and incentives for the development of renewable energy sources such as solar panels for own consumption in all sectors (tertiary, industrial, domestic). They will join the already existing aid.
“We have a program for the energy renovation of existing buildings in municipalities and cities with less than 5,000 inhabitants, 100 million for efficiency in industry and SMEs, tax relief on the income tax of individuals for renovated dwellings or assistance for the installation of heat pumps”, has indicated.
It will also launch the Ministry of Environmental Transition awareness plan so the population see the need to take individual measures and contribute to lower energy consumption.
It launched a competition between advertising agencies to run a large-scale advertising campaign on television, radio, print media, the Internet, cinemas or billboards in high-visibility locations in cities.
will not be included
On the other hand, Groizard is against France’s plan to prohibit access to the rental market of these G-level homeslowest energy class, as of January 1, 2023.
“With the social and political debate about access to housing in Spain, especially for the younger generation, it is not possible to think about limiting it even more,” he concluded.