09:00 - 09:30

Welcome Coffee

09:30 - 10:00

Introduction

• Benedict de Meulemeester, CEO at E&C Consultants
  

10:00 - 10:45

Spain in the globlal energy stage

• Carolina Muñoz, Consultants Team Leader at E&C Consultants
• Ricardo Paz, Financial Controller at E&C Consultants

Spain houses just over a third of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage capacity in the EU and the UK. Spain also leads in terms of regasification capacity which – added to the country's connection with Algeria where 90% of its gas supply comes from – ensures a key role of the Iberian country as an alternative supplier of gas. However, Spain’s contribution to European energy security is unfortunately limited by the absence of energy interconnections and its unexploited renewable capacity.

• How could Spain take profit of its advantageous role in the European energy market and how could this opportunity impact its own energy resilience?

10:45 - 11:15

Coffee Break

11:15 - 12:00

Dealing with high prices: the interest of having a (smart) risk management strategy

• Ignacio Mallent, Business Development Manager at E&C Consultants
• Albert Pedra, Business Developer at E&C Consultants

Buying energy means taking decisions on whether to fix the price or not and if you fix, whether to do it today or tomorrow. In volatile markets, these decisions can cause large variations in your energy costs. The timing of your price fixings is the most important factor determining how much you will pay. But energy markets are unpredictable: the supply and demand equation is extremely complex. On top of this, international energy markets can be shaken by unexpected events, as we saw during the Covid pandemic and we’re witnessing with the conflict in Ukraine.

• How can large energy consumers deal with this volatility in the markets?
• Which are the differences between a fix price contract and a flexible contract?
• And the differences between strategy and smart tactics?

12:00 - 12:45

The sustainability compass and the risks of PPA: could Spain become the San Francisco of Europe? 

• Vera Ruffato, Consultant at E&C Consultants
• Ricardo Paz, Financial Controller at E&C Consultants

In 2021 Spain represented the largest PPA market in Europe with almost 4 GW of deals. But, as more solar power is introduced into our grids, operators are dealing with another problem: peak solar production occurs around midday, when electricity demand is often on the lower end. As a result, energy production is higher than it needs to be, and net demand falls. It increases as the evening approaches, when solar power generation falls. Traditional sources of energy like nuclear and coal are only economical when they are running all the time – they become economically unfeasible if they need to be turned off when power is supplied by solar.

We’ve seen a very interesting similar case in California: the local government has subsided lots of solar projects, and the over production has resulted in some issues for the net as described above.

• Without any close solution to the storage of energy, could Spain become the California of Europe?
• Which are the current risks of these sustainability projects and products for the Spanish market? Could Spain become a victim of its own success?
• Can we relate these challenges to other parts of the world, like the LATAM region?

12:45 - 13:30

Panel discussion with Q&A

13:30 - 15:00

Cocktail and Networking