The combination of energy sources, together with digitization, will chart the path towards a sustainable ecological transition, in a context marked by the climate crisis and the war in Ukraine. It is the scenario described by the futurist technology and energy popularizer Matthew Griffin; the counselor of the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) Pep Salas; the president of the Cluster of Efficient Energy of Catalonia, Esther Izquierdo; and the CEO of Nedgia, Narcís de Carreras, participants in La Vanguardia Talks “The challenges of the energy transition”.
The experts who took part in this dialogue table moderated by the deputy director of the newspaper, Enric Sierra, last week in the Equestrian Circle, expressed their concern about the urgency of finding solutions to the European energy challenge.
The war in Ukraine, according to the CEO of Negdia, Narcís de Carreras, "is the straw that breaks the camel's back" because "it destabilizes the system", since "Russia produces 20% of the world's gas and more than 10% of the Petroleum". The manager of the company that distributes 70% of Spain's natural gas considers that the EU Repower plan, whose main short-term objective is to put an end to dependence on Russian fossil fuels, is "a first step to carry out through two levers: energy efficiency and biomethane”, although he acknowledges that “it will not be easy to diversify and even less so at the moment, with the market stressed”.
Digitization will be "key" to "making the right decisions", highlights the sustainable energy and energy efficiency consultant and president of the Cluster de l'Energia Eficient de Catalunya, Esther Izquierdo.
The counselor of the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), specialist in energy transition and director of Smartgrid.cat, Pep Salas, also underlines the importance of regulation to provide "security" to agents when planning the investments in energy matters, as well as the "acceleration of administrative processes for new projects".
"The future is going to be a mix of energies, there is a long list of alternatives," highlights the futurist expert in technology and energy, Matthew Griffin, who recalls that the energy sector is one of the most "innovative" and technologically advanced.
