“The lack of quality in the service that Fecsa offers is unparalleled in Europe.” With this phrase, José Enrique Vázquez made his debut as a spokesperson on energy issues in La Vanguardia, through an interview that Antonio Cerrillo did with him in 2001. “The article caused a big uproar at the time, but more has happened.” 20 years and we are still the same,” denounces the new president of the Energy commission of the employers' association of micro, small and medium-sized companies of Catalonia (Pimec).
Vázquez is one of those people who speaks openly, a condition that has been very useful to him as a consultant and energy disseminator, his two main tasks. He has spent his entire working life linked to the energy sector, a world he entered by chance, since he initially graduated in biology at the UB, specializing in biochemistry. “While I was studying at university, I worked as a computer programmer at night and ended up in an electronic engineering and underwater engineering company, which is where I came into contact with the sector for the first time,” recalls the protagonist.
After completing a master's degree in energy and environmental engineering at the UPC, he began working at a company in the energy field (Cerin), where he contributed to the modernization of Catalonia's electrical network and where he became general director. However, after ten years he left office because he claims he “spent the day putting out fires.” He explains that, during this stage, “he was offered to occupy various important positions in large energy companies, but I preferred to stay on the other side, developing projects and defending renewables and energy efficiency.”
In 2000, he founded the energy and environmental consulting company BioQuat, a work that he now carries out from EnerGroc, a company that he established in 2019. In parallel to his work as an energy consultant for companies and public institutions, Vázquez has extensive experience in promotion of energy partnerships. He participated in the defunct Spanish Federation of Environmental Associations, is founder and former president of the Catalan Association of Engineering and Environmental Consulting, collaborated in the creation of the Efficient Energy Cluster of Catalonia and was one of the promoters of the Business Foundation and Climate, among other initiatives.
Vázquez's informative side is due to his status as president of the Grup de Gestors Energètics (GGE), an entity from which he holds conferences and from which he acts as an expert on energy issues before the media. As an anecdote, he confesses that when he was in his early thirties, being the youngest of the entity, another member urged him to keep quiet because he “was a kid.” He replied: “Do you know that one day I will be the president of this?”
His ambition and leadership capacity are two of the qualities that have led Vázquez to the presidency of Pimec's Energy commission. “The energy transition is difficult for many SMEs, since the necessary changes, which are essential to maintain their competitiveness, are in many cases difficult to accept due to the existing economic and bureaucratic difficulties,” says the expert. Among Vázquez's objectives as head of the Energy Commission, his desire to "recover understanding between the different actors in the energy transition in order to accelerate it" stands out. Specifically, the goals have been set to “accelerate the implementation of all renewable energies, optimize and cover the transportation and distribution needs of energy, gas and electricity, and propose new management models for distributed generation, closed distribution networks and communities. solar and energy.”
Based in Tarragona, Vázquez also has a role as a social activist as an ambassador for Mamapop, a solidarity concert against breast cancer, and a mentor at the Impulsa Foundation, which promotes the training and job placement of young people in situations of socioeconomic vulnerability.
