The Spanish Photovoltaic Union, the majority sector association of solar energy in Spain that already has more than 800 associated companies, held today the first day of the II Green Hydrogen and Storage Summit for Solar Energy, inaugurated by Manuel García, director general of Energy Policy and Mines of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, and which has included more than 30 national and international experts in storage and green hydrogen.
“Storage and green hydrogen are one of the most important binomials for the energy transition. These two pieces are complementary and necessary to achieve the objectives of decarbonization of the economy. As a country we have a competitive and comparative advantage that we have to take advantage of,” Manuel García recalled during the opening of the event.
The general director of Energy Policy and Mines of the MITERD has taken advantage of the opening of the Summit to highlight the Government’s support for both technologies with the aim of completing the energy transition in our country.
The II UNEF Green Hydrogen and Storage Summit for solar energy, which was attended by more than 500 people on the first day, is part of a key moment for achieving an energy transition in which solar energy It is playing a leading role and aims to consolidate itself as one of the must-see events for the sector at a national and international level. “To maximize all the opportunities that this energy transition offers us, at UNEF we are fully aware of the need to ambitiously address the great challenge of achieving greater implementation of storage systems and green hydrogen in solar energy projects” , stressed Rafael Benjumea, president of UNEF, at the opening of the Summit.
This second Summit is held in a context of slowing growth in self-consumption and associated storage systems, in addition to a situation of electricity prices at historic lows. “There is no doubt that in this context of low prices it represents a unique transformative element for our economy. In this situation, storage and green hydrogen play a fundamental role in finding the appropriate price balance that continues to guarantee competitiveness that attracts industry and favors citizens, while ensuring the necessary investments to achieve the objectives contemplated in the Plan. Integrated Energy and Climate”, Benjumea recalled.
The meeting highlights UNEF’s commitment to innovation as a banner, to implement more efficient and accessible green hydrogen and storage systems for citizens, companies and national industry. “Storage associated with solar energy allows us to decarbonize the electrical mix during hours when there is no sun, so there is no doubt that, in the coming years, batteries and other energy storage systems are going to be as essential such as the solar panels themselves, both in large-scale installations and for self-consumption. The decarbonization effort of our society cannot stop at the electrical system, it has to go further. Therefore, we need to take advantage of energy vectors such as Green Hydrogen, which allows us to extend the ecological transition to other sectors,” reflected the president of UNEF.
For their part, during the first day of the Summit, both UNEF and the invited experts have emphasized the need to eliminate barriers that slow down a rapid, efficient and economical deployment of storage, facilitating the incorporation of storage in existing facilities, making it more flexible. the access and connection criteria for new facilities that incorporate storage or simplifying administrative processing in those cases in which storage is incorporated within the perimeter of the plants.
“We also cannot forget the need to create a remuneration framework that gives long-term price signals, through competitive mechanisms, as is the case with generation sources. These mechanisms must be complementary to other sources of income associated with the different services that storage can provide to the electrical system: balancing services, congestion resolution, flexibility markets, inertia; so that society can get the most out of storage assets,” said Benjumea, president of UNEF.
Regarding Green Hydrogen, the experts have concluded on this first day that Spain has the opportunity to position itself internationally with clear energy leadership thanks to the greater use of photovoltaic generation, the largest in Europe, through Green Hydrogen, thus extending the competitive advantage of solar energy to other sectors of our economy.
