Este histórico 2020 está resultando especialmente complicado para los cogeneradores industriales que se ven obligados a realizar enormes esfuerzos asociados a su particular situación productiva y a la de los mercados energéticos y del marco regulado. Con cogeneración se fabrica el 20% del PIB industrial del país, en unas 600 fábricas de sectores industriales calorintensivos: alimentario, químico, papelero, refino, cerámico, automóvil, etc. Algunas actividades industriales esenciales —alimentaria, papelera, química— han mantenido un elevado nivel de actividad, mientras que otras —cerámicas, automóvil, refino…— han visto muy afectadas las demandas de sus productos. En todas estas industrias calorintensivas los costes energéticos son vitales para competir y mantener más de 200.000 empleos industriales directos, en sectores que exportan un 50% de su producción. Cogeneración e industria en el año de la COVID La caída de la producción industrial por la crisis COVID se refleja directamente en la actividad de cogeneración: si no hay producción industrial, no se requiere cogeneración. Desde abril la cogeneración indicó una fuerte recuperación, que hace que los niveles de producción de electricidad y calor se sitúen en el 85% de los alcanzados el año pasado. Queda aún mucha producción industrial por recuperar, y para España contar con sus cogeneraciones es la mejor herramienta para asegurar e impulsar la competitividad del país. Con cogeneración se genera el 11% de la electricidad nacional —la mitad se autoconsume en las propias fábricas— y el calor necesario para los correspondientes procesos industriales, utilizando el 25% del consumo nacional de gas (40% del utilizado por la industria), que se transforma con la mayor eficiencia energética, lo que convierte a esta tecnología en clave para la industria y los sistemas eléctrico y gasista. La crisis COVID ha tenido imprevisibles consecuencias en los mercados energéticos de electricidad y gas que se han desplomado en This historic 2020 is turning out to be particularly complex for industrial cogenerators who have been obliged to make huge efforts associated with their particular productive situation and that of the energy markets and the regulated framework. CHP manufactures 20% of Spain’s industrial GDP from some 600 factories in energy intensive industrial sectors: food, chemicals, paper, refining, ceramic, automotive, etc. Some essential industrial activities - food, paper, chemicals - have maintained a high level of activity, while others - ceramic, automotive, refining - have seen demand for their products seriously impacted. In all these energy intensive industries, the energy costs are crucial in order to be competitive and maintain over 200,000 direct industrial jobs in sectors that export 50% of their production. CHP and industry in the year of COVID The fall in industrial production due to the COVID crisis is directly reflected in CHP activity: if there is no industrial production, no CHP is required. Since April, CHP noted a strong recovery making electricity and heat production levels achieve 85% of those reached last year. There is still much industrial production to recover and for Spain, relying on its cogeneration plants is the best tool to guarantee and stimulate the competitiveness of the country. CHP generates 11% of domestic electricity, half of which is selfconsumed by the factories themselves, and the heat needed for the corresponding industrial processes, using 25% of domestic gas consumption (40% of that used by industry), which is transformed with greater energy efficiency, thus making this a key technology for industry as well as for the electricity and gas systems. The COVID crisis has had unforeseeable consequences for the electricity and gas energy markets which collapsed in 2020 to record minimum prices. The management of this situation by the cogeneration industries is proving to be difficult, as industrial gas and other fuel contracts follow annual or long-term cycles, which often do not match the spot markets. Legal measures to make supply contracts more flexible, arising from the state of emergency, have also required management between industries and suppliers to be adaptive. But the deciding factor was the collapse in electricity market price resulting in lower revenue and higher financing of regulated income, as official forecasts have ended up misaligned. Regulatory changes on the table The 2020 regulatory framework for CHP, established last January with a pool forecast of 54 €/MWh, is completely out-of-step with the 2020 prices of around 33 €/MWh. This is why cogenerators have asked the Government to urgently adjust the market value in its regulation, something to which the Ministry has committed, however we do not know when and how this will be done. Cogeneración | CHP FuturEnergy | Mayo-Junio/May-June 2020 www.futurenergyweb.es 17 PRESENTE Y FUTURO DE LA COGENERACIÓN EN ESPAÑA Javier Rodríguez Director general ACOGEN THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF SPANISH CHP Javier Rodríguez Managing Director of ACOGEN
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