Cinco Días celebrated its 45th anniversary with a forum on the main economic challenges in the current context. Between 12-14 June at the Teatro Real in Madrid, and with the participation of His Majesty King Felipe VI and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, several entrepreneurs, senior management, members of the government, social partners and representatives of economic institutions discussed the energy transition, the financial sector and artificial intelligence, among other topics.
The CEO of Enagás, Arturo Gonzalo, took part in the session “The energy revolution: Spanish companies, keys to European energy autonomy”, which was also attended by representatives of the sector such as: Mario Ruiz-Tagle, CEO of Iberdrola Spain; Loreto Ordóñez, CEO of Engie; Josu Jon Imaz, CEO of Repsol; Ignacio Colmenares y Brunet, Chairman of Ence; Raül Blanco, Chairman of Renfe, and Beatriz Corredor, Chairwoman of Redeia.
Arturo Gonzalo, in his conversation with the Deputy Editor of Cinco Días, Daniel Toledo, stressed that Europe’s goal of advancing in strategic autonomy includes energy independence and that, thanks to the REPowerEU plan and the measures adopted, great progress has been made in reducing Russian gas consumption.
The Enagás CEO stressed that “Spain and Europe will approach the coming winter with confidence. A year ago, the level of underground storage in Europe was 49%, today it is 70%. In Spain we are already over 95% full”.
Furthermore, he said, “Europe is committed to speeding up the deployment of renewable hydrogen. Spain has a huge opportunity. It has a great potential for green hydrogen production to meet domestic demand and export to the rest of Europe.
Arturo Gonzalo pointed out that the European energy market, both gas and hydrogen, is going to be increasingly integrated, and stressed the importance of Enagás’ entry into Germany, “where we have a lot to contribute, we are the largest operator of regasification terminals in Europe,” he said. Mr Gonzalo stressed that Germany wants the green hydrogen that Spain is capable of producing and shipping: “We must be able to take advantage of these opportunities that will help materialise big bets such as the H2Med corridor”.
The Enagás CEO mentioned the need for the planning to be developed from Spain to also incorporate the major transmission infrastructures that need to be deployed throughout Europe and the storage infrastructures that guarantee supply. “Hydrogen has to serve this purpose of being a green energy storage for security of supply in Spain and Europe” he concluded.
You can watch the final day of the Cinco Días economic forum at this link.
