Energy Prospectives #15 - Energy: An Overview (Highlights)

Francesco La Camera, Director General at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and Arnaud de Giovanni, Global Renewables Leader at EY, were the guest speakers for the 15th Energy Prospectives, a series hosted by the Naturgy Foundation and IESE Business School to promote a profound debate on the energy transition.
La Camera started his presentation by reminding the audience that, in one year, renewables have installed more power capacity than nuclear energy in the last 70 years. IRENA's Director General stated that renewable technology is the only technology that can be deployed in a timeframe consistent with the current goals. Those imply that 11 extra terawatts of this kind of energy must be deployed globally by 2030.
Regarding complementary energy vectors, La Camera also stated that hydrogen is already very close to being economically viable, so now the attention must be turned to what happens on the demand side, where, in his opinion, public policies must kickstart this side of the market equation.
De Giovanni followed up on the topic of hydrogen, stating that it's all a matter of scale and location. In some places and for some sectors, he said, hydrogen will be incredibly important, while for some locations and some other sectors, other technologies will be more important.
Regarding the 11-terawatt milestone, EY's Global Renewables Leader said that investor-wise, the money is there, but we still need good projects. He added that returns are falling for this type of investment, especially in countries that were the first to embrace renewable energy, which he described as "the winner's curse."
In the opening session, Francisco Reynés, Chairman at Naturgy, stated that the company is fully committed to the European decarbonization objectives. Naturgy, he reminded the audience, is a 180-year-old company whose soul is transformation.
Rafael Villaseca, Chairman of the Naturgy Foundation, closed the session by adding that renewable energy is, in fact, one of today's fundamental tools that will undoubtedly impact the future of all companies and those interested in the energy world.
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