The College of Industrial Engineers of Catalonia warns that the Generalitat of Catalonia’s roadmap to meet the European goal of climate neutrality in 2050 is unrealizable, as is achieving the intermediate goal of 2030.
In a report on the energy transition in Catalonia consulted by the Economist, the engineers consider that the consumption forecasts of the autonomous administration are too optimistic regarding its moderate growth, and that the ways to cover this demand are limited and “confuse decarbonizing with electrifying”, when there is a relevant part of consumption -such as industrial and heavy transport- that must be covered with other energies, such as hydrogen, biogas and synthetic fuels.
They also point out that renewable energies cannot be the only pillar of the electrical system, because “firm power” is required that is available at any time to meet demand, which goes through combined hydrogen cycles, batteries and other energy storage systems. energy, and reversible pumping mechanisms in hydroelectric power plants.
The engineers point out that the Generalitat plans to install more onshore wind power than is technically possible due to the separation requirements between wind turbines, and that bureaucratic slowness in processing new projects makes it impossible to achieve the objectives set.