The Magdalena Palace in Santander hosts this week the meeting “A boost towards the energy transition: the new technologies”, within the summer courses of the Menéndez Pelayo International University. The opening of this meeting, which will take place until Wednesday, was attended by the Mayoress of Santander, Gema Igual; the rector of the UIMP, Carlos Andradas; and the CEO of EDP Spain, Ana Paula Marques. “Accelerating the energy transition is more urgent each day in order to face climate change and, at the same time, it is reinforced by the necessity of clean, affordable and safe energy, in a context of global changes dynamics that reinforces even more the necessity of energy independence”, said Marques.

The meeting, organised by EDP, analyses the opportunities and barriers faced by the energy transition, considering the technologies that will mark its way, such as green hydrogen, flexibility of the electricity system or offshore wind energy. EDP professionals, Administration representatives and experts from different companies will look into and discuss these topics during these days.

Ana Paula Marques, CEO of EDP Spain, affirmed that: “We are very committed to fair transition, and we have very realistic investment plans in our sites”. She recalled the “ambitious” investment plan of the company from now to 2026, a plan that contemplates an investment of 25,000 million euros mainly for “adding around 4.5 GW of capacity annually to renewable energies, which practically means duplicating the solar and wind capacity that we had; and for investing in networks, as well as innovation and digitalization as key elements”. The CEO of EDP Spain also highlighted the importance of having a stable regulation that promotes investment. “We will only achieve the energy transition if the whole system works together”, she said.

During the first day of the seminar, José Ángel Díaz, executive director of technology and engineering of EDPR, addressed the different technical solutions that are being developed for taking advantage of all the potential of solar energy in the masterclass “Solar Utility Scale”. The day concluded with a round table in which Pablo Argüelles, director of generation of EDP Spain; Bautista Rodríguez, CEO of Ocean Winds; and Miguel Mateos, CEO of EDP Networks Spain, discussed how to take advantage of the existing assets for boosting the energy transition. The three speakers agreed in highlighting the role of networks, “an element without which we cannot make any energy transition”, as well as highlighting the need of agile administrations to guarantee the fulfilment of the objectives of clean energy and of incentivising the formation of professionals to facilitate these challenges.

The seminar continues with different lectures and round tables that will address the opportunities offered by hydrogen and offshore wind energy to boost the energy transition. On Wednesday, it will be the turn of addressing network digitalization and sharing conclusions. The president of EDP Networks Spain, Ferrari Careto, will take part in the institutional closure of the course.