Nadal says that only thermals will be closed due to lack of profitability

The Minister of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda, Álvaro Nadal, has assured today that the Government intends to allow the closure of any power plant, and not only that of the thermal coal, when raised "for clear reasons and for lack of profitability".

Oviedo, November 20 (EFE) .- The Minister of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda, Álvaro Nadal, assured today that the Government intends to allow the closure of any power plant, and not only that of coal-fired thermal plants, when raised "for clear reasons and for lack of profitability".

Nadal referred to the decision recently announced by Iberdrola to close its two last coal thermals, the Asturian one of Lada and the one of Velilla del Río Carrión, in Palencia.

The minister has assured that an electrical one can say if it wants to close a power station because it is not efficient or has losses, but that it should be in the hands of the Government the possibility of proving that this is so.

According to Nadal, the decree that the Executive wants to approve it will allow testing that end if a thermal or power generation facility of any type really has losses or if, on the other hand, another operator does have accounts and would be willing to exploit the same central.

"The important thing is that when they close, they are closed for clear reasons and for lack of profitability," the minister stressed for whom he is It is necessary to maintain continuity and prevent the opening or closing of plants from distorting the energy market.

Nadal has also pointed out that the closure of nuclear power plants and coal would raise the price of electricity in Spain by 40 percent and that this would mean "an unaffordable cost for the industry".

Thus, the minister has been in favor of maintaining the current energy mix, because nuclear energy does not produce CO2 and that compensates the emissions of coal thermals, which are cheaper.

"We must combine the price objectives and the environmental, "said the minister, who has stressed that the government's decree proposal wants to avoid closures raised by strategic decisions in order to raise the price of electricity.

The Minister of Energy made these statements after signing with the president of the Principality, Javier Fernández, the framework agreement for the execution of the mining funds 2012-2018 in Asturias, which has proposed 127 actions that will involve the mobilization of 158 million euros.

In his speech, Fernandez had raised the minister that Asturias "wants to continue being an industrial region" and, for that, it is necessary to maintain thermal power plants and affordable electricity.

After recalling that the Asturian electrointensive companies generate 18,000 jobs, the Asturian president has pointed out that for its survival the price of energy is a key factor and that, therefore, so is the closing of thermals, which would raise the price of electricity by around 20 percent.

Fernández has been in favor of going to an energy transition and to move towards the decarbonization of the economy with intelligence, responsibility and planning, and not with "precipitate closures" such as those announced these days.

"This industrial region, which wants to continue being so, defends that during this necessarily long process the electric generation with coal continues, "said the Asturian president, who has assured that in the planning of the future energy of Spain is playing the future of the country.