EDP Renovaveis wants more stable regulatory framework in Spain

Feb 12, 2013 - EDP Renovaveis (ELI:EDPR), the green energy arm of Portuguese power utility EDP (ELI:EDP), yesterday urged the Spanish authorities to guarantee a more stable regulatory framework for the energy sector in order to facilitate investments in green energy capacity.

Sector players consider that if Spain does not have stable regulations, this goes against the mid- and long-term interests of consumers. The demands were voiced at the launch of the last turbine of the 214.3-MW Carondio wind park.

More precisely, renewable energy groups want greater legal security and have called on Spanish authorities not to make rapid and sudden changes in existing regulations as this harms the business and subsequent investments.

Concerns similar to EDP Renovaveis' were voiced by the Spanish Wind Energy Association's (AEE) energy policies director Heikki Willstedt Mesa in an interview published yesterday on the European Wind Energy Association's blog. According to him the income of Spain's wind sector will be cut by some EUR 600 million (USD 804m) in 2013, or 15% of its turnover, as a result of new rules launched last week. The sudden changes include the removal of the market-price-plus-premium option for wind farms, one of the two options that developers previously had for a price for their wind farms' output.

In Spain, EDP Renovaveis manages 89 wind farms with an installed capacity of 2,300 MW, whereas on a global scale the company has a nameplate capacity of 7,500 MW, divided between 11 countries on three continents.

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