L'Energètica, the public energy company of the Generalitat, begins its first year of life with a budget of 25 million euros. The company, promoted by the Department of Climate Action, will invest the money in laying the foundations to operate in the market for the generation and sale of renewables with the aim of supplying Generalitat buildings and vulnerable families.
“To have our own structure, we need to hire about 30 people, find a headquarters, create a computer system and above all, start adding power generation projects to exploit the marketing license we just obtained. For this reason, this will be a year of landing and the income will not yet be very significant, ”said director Daniel Pérez (formerly Holaluz) yesterday.
With this initial capacity, l'Energètica will be able to supply buildings of the Generalitat and if there are surpluses, transfer them free of charge to vulnerable families. In the short term, selling energy to private individuals is ruled out, an activity that, by law, could not account for more than 20% of income.
With this plan, l'Energètica wants to control all the phases of the process and contribute to the energy transition and the reduction of energy prices (renewable energy is cheaper and it will sell it at cost price). It is a commitment that the Government acquired in the investiture agreement signed between the ERC and the CUP and that has been carried out taking inspiration from the Norwegian and Quebec models.
Pérez explained yesterday that the strategy to gain size involves joining projects that already exist or that are in advanced processing, as well as relying on the bidding capacity of other administrations. “We are going to invest between 15 and 20 million in solar energy and between 3 and 5 in wind or hydraulic parks,” he said.
At the moment, l'Energètica has won the management of the Pebesa and Trucafort wind farms in Tarragona, which have been ceded free of charge by the public entity Avançsa. In hydraulic energy, the company is studying to take over the Colònia Llaudet (Girona) and Can Trinxet (Barcelona) plants, whose management contracts expire in 2024. “In Catalonia, there are 350 hydroelectric plants but in many cases the concessions do not expire until 2061 ", lament.
In the solar sector is where there are more opportunities. “There are 43 projects with administrative authorization in which we could participate as shareholders. We are also preparing an inventory of the roofs of the buildings and companies of the Generalitat. When the energy supply contracts expire, we will assume the management while in the new buildings we will obtain it from the outset”.
Pérez calculates that this year, l'Energètica will manage 10% of the consumption of the Generalitat's buildings with a view to reaching 100% by 2030. In addition, l'Energètica is exploring alliances with small municipalities that want to promote their own solar park .
To carry out this growth and not be left behind, the company aspires to obtain between 50 and 100 million euros from the public budget in 2024.
