Paula Fernandez Pareja, Government of Castilla-La Mancha
Release Date: 2009-12-17
Paula Fernández Pareja, Regional Minister of Industry, Energy and Environment of the Government of Castilla-La Mancha (CLM), was interviewed by GreenTechFocus to discuss the unique advantages of CLM and Spain in general for development of wind industry, the prospects of the industry's expansion to the Chinese market and the elements that constitute the investment appeal of CLM.What makes Castilla-La Mancha a competitive hub on a global scale for the development of renewable technologies?
Firstly, our geographic position. Castilla-La Mancha is situated in the very centre of Spain, with a very well-developed transportation infrastructure and a very important position for the development of renewable technologies which is not only due to the installation of renewable power generation but also to our ambition to become a reference in the creation and installation of an industry related to the development and investigation of renewable technologies. These pylons have enabled us to create a strong and high potential sector and become the example for the development of other zones and allow our enterprises mature and expand beyond our Region. Moreover, the fact that we want to develop locally in renewables invites more businesses to come to Castilla La Mancha.
Spain is among the leaders in renewable energies in Europe. What are the country’s unique advantages that make it a preferred partner in this field and what makes Castilla-La Mancha even more attractive when looking at regional level?
First of all, our expertise. The experience of creating wind energy parks has proven that wind energy - which is quite worrisome for the operators of electric grids - can be manageable. Renewable energies do not provide a response for the immediate needs: for instance, a thermal or nuclear power plant starts working when there’s energy demand. A wind station works when there’s wind, a photovoltaic station works when there’s sun, thus creating a complementary difficulty. But investigation and new technologies allowed us predict, with a 48 hour advance, the amount of electricity that we’ll be able to put on the market generated by wind energy. There is an Iberdrola’s private research centre in the city of Toledo which controls all the wind energy parks allowing predictions that almost coincide with actual operation. I think that precisely this technology and this experience makes us special. Wind energy now accounts for 50% of the energy injected in the Spanish electric grid, and 25% of it is produced in Castilla-La Mancha. Therefore, we’re in a position to offer a lot because we have the technological and environmental know-how, and we can make it compatible with the needs of the market.
What does the Chinese market for renewables represent today for Castilla-La Mancha?
Some regional enterprises, in cooperation with the Institute of Foreign Promotion and Investment, are involved in the external promotion of Castilla-La Mancha in trying to take the local products and companies to China. Till now we have imported more Chinese products than we have managed to sell. Namely, the photovoltaic sector experienced exponential growth in 2008 in Spain and in Castilla-La Mancha creating such an increase of the demand. It was envisaged to install 500 MW of photovoltaic stations and 2,200 MW were installed. The photovoltaic panel producers installed in Spain could not supply enough to the market, and that provoked massive entry of Chinese photovoltaic panels. This is neither good nor bad; we just want to sell more.
But the price per Watt of Chinese panels has showed to be much cheaper that European prices!
The reaction of the European market was not only to generate energy but also to generate an industry. Castilla-La Mancha manufactures silicium, photovoltaic cells and panels, and I think that we’ve learnt the lesson, so the price per Watt is becoming competitive with the Chinese price.
Do you think there’s space for joint ventures in this field?
I’m sure that the path to follow for the European and Chinese producers is to create consortiums so that similar or different technologies on the two markets could elaborate something in common to create better panels and better quality.
Finally, what would be your message to China’s government and business leaders to present Castilla-La Mancha as a partner of choice for renewables?
Castilla-La Mancha is a perfect place to invest. Renewables have become our strategic sector that makes us competitive on the global level offering highly qualified companies and vast experience in wind, photovoltaic and thermosolar energy. Now we’re working in some projects that can be of interest for China. Castilla-La Mancha has developed the first Spanish power plant for forest biomass that proves that this can be utilized directly for power generation. We have very ambitious plans and a lot to bring to other countries. The professionalism, knowledge and know-how of our companies make them reliable partners for these projects.
| Company: | Government of Castilla-La Mancha |
| Position: | Regional Minister of Industry, Energy and Environment of Castilla-la Mancha |
| Country: | Spain |