Pedro Sanchez announces that Iberian exception will be applied to help Spanish industries using gas

Pedro Sanchez announced that the Iberian exception will be applied temporarily to help Spanish industries that consume large quantities of gas. 

Pedro Sanchez, the President of the Spanish Government, during a plenary session of the Senate today Tuesday, September 6, announced that all large industries in Spain that resort to co-generation will be temporarily covered by the gas cap compensation mechanism, known as the Iberian exception.

Speaking in the Upper House, Sanchez explained that the Government will approve “an exception for the co-generation facilities of industries with large gas consumption, allowing them to be temporarily covered by the Iberian mechanism”.

The industry itself had requested this action revealed Mr Sanchez, which will benefit sectors such as those manufacturing ceramics, brick, chemicals, paper, textiles, agri-food, and fertilizers. Each business will be covered up to 20 per cent of the national industrial GDP, some of them with a strong presence in Andalucia.

Industries that, he stated: “will be able to continue operating, guaranteeing employment throughout the territory”. In total, Sanchez said, the measures approved to assist the industry are worth €850 million, including tax cuts, tolls, direct aid, and increased compensation for the cost of CO2 emission rights.

According to sources from the Executive, the Government is processing a ministerial order to increase the regulated remuneration of the co-generation industry by more than €1,000 million.

In 2021, the regulated remuneration of this industry – which traditionally contributes 10 per cent of electricity generation in Spain from the heat generated in its industrial processes – was €665 million.

The recent increase in gas costs though has forced many of these facilities to cease activity, with a drop in electricity production through co-generation of more than 60 per cent.

In addition to allowing the continuity of industries and the maintenance of jobs, the Government justifies this measure to increase gas savings. It pointed out that co-generation plants produce heat and electricity more efficiently than if heat were generated on the one hand and electricity on the other.

According to the calculations presented by the Government, the energy savings achieved by co-generation are around 10 per cent and the return to operation of the currently stopped co-generation plants could provide savings of up to 1.2 per cent of the daily demand for gas in the best scenario, as reported by diariodesevilla.es.

___________________________________________________________

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.