“No one likes to see taxes rise,” sources in the sector who prefer to remain anonymous reflect in statements made to Estrategias de Inversión. However, they clarify that “at the moment of truth, even if it is a different mechanism, the effect will be similar to the one that is already in force in Spain.”

The gas ceiling of the ‘Iberian exception’ in force in Spain places pool prices at around 180 euros/MWh, with a peak of 190 euros during August, these sources explain, so “for practical purposes” the impact will be practically nil if the European legislation goes ahead.

From what is known at the moment of the European Commission’s plans, the Brussels plan would go through establishing maximum income of between 180 and 200 euros/MWh for all inframarginal technologies (wind, solar, biomass, nuclear, fuel oil, lignite , etc). With this proposal on the table, a negotiation period of several weeks now opens; the intention of the community partners is to reach an agreement at the extraordinary meeting of energy ministers convened for Friday, September 30 in Brussels.

The stock market had discounted a lower limit

Nor does the market seem too nervous. María Aranzazu Bueno, an analyst at Bankinter, highlights in a report that “it would be a relatively high and positive limit for renewables in Spain and Portugal”. “Investors had priced in a cap on renewables, but anticipated and feared a much lower cap that could erode their profitability,” she explains.

“Last week the rumors began of a cap of around 200 euros/MWh and the companies reacted with increases. The proposed limit of 180 euros/MWh continues to be a very attractive price for renewables”, highlights Bueno.

In fact, despite the ups and downs of recent weeks due to rumors of this new European energy framework, Solaria shares have in fact accumulated a revaluation of 23% so far this year, while Acciona Renewable Energies has had a even higher performance, with an accumulated rise of 29% in 2022.

In the Continuous Market, Ecoener has risen more than 30% so far in 2022, as has Grenergy Renovables, although Soltec is somewhat further behind. Meanwhile, Opdenergy is up more than 8% since its jump in July.

Tax on fossil fuel companies

Within the reform of the energy system that Brussels is studying, a new tax for fossil fuel companies is also included with which they intend to raise some 140,000 million euros. This tax is also not viewed with disfavor by Spanish companies.

According to the sources, “it is better planned” than the Spanish Government’s energy saving plan, since the latter intends to tax the sales of the companies, while the community effort is aimed at the final profit figure.

Categorized in: