ENERGY LEADERS
Spain has some of the best wind and solar power resources in Europe, and the companies below have continued to make the industry ever-more competitive and transform the sector.
Juan José Sánchez CEO, CAPITAL ENERGY
OUR MISSION IS TO make a decisive contribution to an ecological and just transition of both our economy and society through the energy sector transition under way. The five values that define Capital Energy are commitment, innovation, agility, digitalization, and sustainability. Within this mission, our vision is to become a leading 100% renewable energy company and an integral part of the entire value chain of the sector. The company was founded in 2002 as a developer of offshore wind energy. It then moved into different technologies, keeping pace with the evolution of industry regulation and policy. In 2008 and 2009, regulatory changes led to an effective moratorium on new renewable developments. It was able to put several renewable projects into construction and operation, though these regulatory changes meant that a large part of its portfolio became unviable overnight as these technologies were not competitive at the time. In 2015, the company renewed intensive investment in new developments and professional talent, anticipating the needs of the market, and in 2018 it opted for a more ambitious strategic design change, more aligned with the industrial and long-term vocation of our shareholders to move toward integration across the entire value chain. Since then, growth has been exponential.
Carlos Reyero GENERAL MANAGER, FORESTALIA
FORESTALIA IS THE brainchild of the president, founder, and shareholder, Fernando Samper Rivas. In 2016, Forestalia was awarded an initial 300MW of wind and biomass energy. This business has an additional bonus, namely the social factor. The commercial side is, of course, important; however, the social aspect truly drives Forestalia. Social pressure has continued to increase, and it is an issue that urgently needs to be addressed by providing more clean energy. This confluence of social and the economic factors is a result of the times we are currently living in. Our current project portfolio exceeds 8GW now and comprises 60% wind energy and 40% photovoltaic energy; however, biomass energy accounts for far less because support from the public sector is required in order to allow its feasibility and reach a reasonable profitability level. This heavily depends on ministry policy regarding sectoral auctions. 2020 was a brilliant year for us. We closed extremely important deals for the future of the company and met all our targets in spite of the pandemic. The mandate that classifies the sector as a strategic activity, and the fact that construction activity did not halt during the lockdown, certainly contributed to our success over the past 12 months.
Antonio Sieira FOUNDING PARTNER AND CEO, IGNIS GROUP
IGNIS GROUP WAS FOUNDED in 2015 with an integrated management vision of the energy business and a goal to provide energy competitively to all consumers. We aim to foster integrated management of energy at every stage of the value chain. This includes the project design, including the engineering, purchasing, and monitoring process of the construction; the implementation; and the launch of certain technology-immersed facilities. We currently manage 4% of Spain’s total energy produced through a multi-technology platform that comprises hydropower plants, wind farms, PV solar parks, cogeneration, and so on. We manage this power across every electricity market, both in the daily market and real-time markets, in which Ignis is the leading independent platform. Ignis’ mission is to leverage that expertise and expand these capabilities in other markets. Ignis operates 1GW of assets through 25-year O&M contracts and is one of the few companies with expertise in utility scale solar parks, having operated the 800-MW Aragon Solar project, the largest photovoltaic plant in Europe since 2019. As a consequence of the project in Aragón, we started developing what is currently the largest portfolio of renewable in Spain under development. We are leaders in promoting renewable energy in Spain, namely solar photovoltaic energy.
David Ruiz de Andrés FOUNDER & CEO, GRENERGY
OUR COMPANY WAS ESTABLISHED in 2007 when the technology was not mature. For the first five years, we built small solar PV plants in Spain at a CAPEX level of EUR6 million per MW, compared to less than EUR0.5 million per MW currently. In 2013, when the subsidies disappeared and the feed-in tariff came to an end, we decided to move to Latam, where we experienced exponential growth building both solar and wind projects. As a result of a strategy that considered geographical diversification, our 6GW pipeline today is balanced and includes projects in five Latin American countries (Chile, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia) and three European (Spain, Italy, and the UK), with further expansion to other European countries in the near future. Our track record in the market has also been remarkable in these years. Grenergy was listed on the local growth market (MAB) in 2015 and had the highest increase in shares value of the entire Spanish stock exchange, rising more than 12 times, from EUR31 million to EUR400 million in just four years. This race led to our debut on the main market in 2019, the only company that managed to do so that year. Today, our capitalization exceeds EUR800 million.
COUNTRY MANAGER SPAIN, EDP RENOVABLES (EDPR)
EDPR IS A GLOBAL LEADER in the renewable energy sector and the world’s third-largest wind energy producer. We are present in 15 countries with an installed capacity of more than 12GW, but our headquarters are in Spain. Our company is mainly focused on the development of renewable energy, and it aims to provide value both to its shareholders and to society. Currently, the company is focused on wind onshore and off-shore, solar PV, and hydrogen. EDPR always seeks to go slightly further in terms of innovation. We put together a pilot to try a combination of wind and solar energy in Andalusia, at the Janda III facilities. Moreover, new legislation was obtained to regulate hybrid projects in Spain, and this can be seen in the possible law on Climate Change and Energy Transition. In the last auction of Spain, in which we participated and were the successful bidders of 143MW, four of the projects that won will be hybrid. It is an opportunity in terms of optimization in the use of the network and the reduction of the environmental impact. It is a tool that can ensure that the government’s PNIEC objectives are achieved more quickly and efficiently. We hope to have them operating by 2023.