The fear of renewables

The current energy model is again on the table after the blackout of April 28 in Spain. After a few weeks where the Spanish nation was covering 100% of your demand with renewable and exporting the remaining energyon the other side of the Pyrenees, France was observing with concern how their nuclear They have had to run into idle. And not because of a technical problem, but for an increasingly uncomfortable reality: the southern renewable boom is challenging northern nuclear hegemony.

France resisting. While much of Europe has taken an address towards a system focused on clean energy, France redouble your commitment to nuclear energy With a production 70%. However, this scenario is not a technical preference, but a strategic ambition since the Gallic country seeks to be the battery of Europe. A centralized, controlled and export model. However, the renewable advance of countries such as Spain complicates that plan.

In contrast. Spain, With a commitment determined by renewablesNot only has it reduced its dependence, but it begins to question the profitability of the French nuclear model. In April, he covered more than 60% of his demand with clean energy and exported a significant part to Francejust at the moment when several Gauling reactors were standing. As has explained for the avant -garde Eloy Sanz, professor at the University of King Juan Carlos I: “The debate is not just technical, it is deeply geopolitical.” And he added: “France wants to maintain its energy leadership position in Europe, but photovoltaic and wind are gaining ground and do so with increasingly low costs.”

A silent competition. This conflict is not always perceived at first glance, but it is deep. In Brussels, the fight revolves around which technologies should receive public aid. Paris pressed for nuclear Be considered “green” and can opt for European funds, while countries like Spain are promoting a transition based on renewables, storage and intelligent demand management.

The problems are at home. The France Academy of Sciences itself has criticized The new government energy plan (PPE3), describing it as “unrealistic” and “disconnected of reality. ”In addition, the controversy is not less: The French Nuclear Investment Planwhich includes up to 300,000 million euros To prolong and build new reactors, it has caused an internal political crisis, According to Le Point. France’s resistance is not born from fortress, but from the urgency of defending an increasingly discussed position.

Maintain the position. France resists, yes. But it does not do it from the strength, but from the need to protect an increasingly questioned position. The renewable revolution in southern Europe is not just a promise of the future: it is already a reality that Tension pricesnetworks and policies. Energy leadership in Europe is in dispute, and this time, Spain arrives with a viable, exportable and increasingly difficult proposal to ignore.

Image | François Goglins

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