The big occasion. Robert Navarro, January 2020

It is often said that everything good in life is fattening, sinful, or forbidden. Of course it is an exaggeration, but this saying evokes well a certain natural tendency towards compensation, in such a way that what suits us is not always pleasant, accessible or even possible. However, from time to time the stars align to get the convenient and the desired to go in the same direction. These are occasions that can in no way be missed.

The different alternatives when choosing energy sources can be analyzed very well on the basis of the so-called energy trilemma, which is the one that considers three determining factors when judging the convenience or goodness of each source: competitiveness, sustainability and the guarantee of supply or manageability. Thus, the perfect energy would be one that can be obtained at a low cost, at the time it is needed and without negatively affecting the environment. A utopia? Maybe not so much, and less and less, of course.

The environmental factor, which at this historical moment has taken an unprecedented role due to the serious threat of the climate crisis, was irrelevant when the industrial revolution discovered fossil fuels as an efficient, simple and competitive way to obtain energy. For example, a steamboat was much more operational than a sailing one, as it did not depend on the wind resource to be able to navigate. No one cared that it emitted smoke, so the choice was clear and incontestable.

But, over time, the environmental drawbacks of the massive exploitation of fossil fuels have become evident, until today, in which the climate emergency forces us to act urgently to reduce their use and thus not aggravate the ongoing crisis. In this context, the world turns its eyes to renewable sources, once considered little more than an exotic alternative, in the hands of a few outsiders linked to progressive movements, hippies and similar curiosities. And renewables have responded, increasing their competitiveness gradually and steadily until they are not only cleaner but more competitive.

With this, two of the three vertices of the dilemma already have a clear winner. The third is missing, but less and less. We are left to finish off the challenge of manageability, since, by their nature, most renewable energies and, in particular, wind and solar photovoltaic – the two that at the moment can compete one-on-one with conventional sources – depend on a variable resource and not always easy to predict. And in this it is now, trying to develop solutions ranging from storage, increasingly competitive, to demand management, through interconnections. There are many initiatives and tools that can be implemented to make a 100% renewable future possible and realistic, and all of them are useful: pumping stations, connected batteries to regulate the grid, vehicles capable of accumulating and dumping energy intelligently, digital demand response tools, etc. And we’re really not far from the solution, as technologies exist and their costs go down day by day. Very good news, then. Only what is probably the most important thing is missing: the unequivocal will of the citizen to adapt their habits, rethink their priorities and help, each with their grain or their handful of sand, to reverse the current situation, already of emergency, for the good of the planet and future generations. Let us not waste a second in this endeavour.

Robert Navarro

Managing Director of Innogy Spain

Company Member of the Private Company and Climate Foundation