Musk Tells Spain to Invest in Solar, Premier Invites Him Over

[TruckElectric]

Musk Tells Spain to Invest in Solar, Premier Invites Him Over
By
Clara Hernanz Lizarraga and
Alonso Soto
April 5, 2022, 8:24 AM CDT


Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez invited Elon Musk to visit his country after the world’s richest man tweeted that it could power all of Europe with solar energy.

Musk should “come and see” that Spain is already investing heavily in solar, Sanchez tweeted Tuesday, in response to earlier posts from the billionaire entrepreneur. “We welcome investors in Spain.”



In a subsequent tweet, Musk acknowledged that Portugal could also develop large-scale solar projects.

Musk’s tweets come as European governments scramble to come up with alternative energy options to cut the continent’s dependency on Russian gas. Sanchez is a big advocate of clean energy, and in December his government announced plans to invest as much as 16 billion euros ($17.5 billion) in the energy transition through 2026. Andalusia, a sunny region in southern Spain, provides the cheapest energy in all of Europe.


Renewable energy firms were among the biggest gainers on the Spanish stock exchange on Tuesday, following Musk’s comments.

Also on Tuesday, Twitter Inc. announced that Musk will join the company’s board, after he disclosed a 9.2% stake in the company this week.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ganic&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=business


'Come and see' says Spanish PM after Musk tells country to build solar park
Reuters

MADRID, April 5 (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez defended his government's energy policy and challenged Elon Musk to put his money where his mouth is on Tuesday after the world's richest man said Spain should build a massive solar power plant.

"Spain should build a massive solar array. Could power all of Europe," Tesla (TSLA.O) founder Musk, who has a net worth of some $219 billion according to Forbes, tweeted to his 80.5 million followers on Monday.

Sanchez responded in kind, touting his country's plans to transition toward a more efficient and sustainable energy system and inviting Musk to be a part of it.

"Time is now. Let's get it right. Come and see. We welcome investors in Spain," he tweeted.



With its sunny plains, fast-flowing rivers and windy hillsides, Spain targets getting 67% of its electricity from renewables by 2026.

Data from national grid operator Red Electrica (REE.MC) showed renewables accounted for 45% of generation in March, with solar photovoltaic contributing around 6.4%.

As part of its COVID-19 economic recovery plan, Spain will allocate some 6.9 billion euros ($7.8 billion) to renewables, green hydrogen and energy storage by 2023 and aims to attract another 9.45 billion euros in private funding. read more

Former Science Minister Pedro Duque, an aeronautical engineer who was a European Space Agency astronaut before taking up his ministerial post, also replied to Musk's tweet, challenging him to make his idea a reality.


"We welcome investments in Spain to boost our already large production of renewables. All our legal framework is prepared for it. Know any investors?"

https://www.reuters.com/business/en...sk-tells-country-build-solar-park-2022-04-05/

 

[SparkChaser]

Giga Barcelona !
Giga Madrid, High plains would be great for solar.

 

[DarinCT]

Musk is extremely successful but sometimes he's a righteous dufus. Spain has had solar overcapacity problems since the mid-2010's. It wasn't until recently that fractured power markets were more unified showing for brisket geographic sales. "Spain should" is the same as "build more so you'll need my batteries". All the issues of the duck curve, market integration and oversaturation, thousands of hours of educated businessman and advocates reduced to "hey man, wouldn't it be so cool if Spain spent all this money on solar so I could make more money". Pfft. Also, Twitter sucks.

 

[TruckElectric]

Spain has had solar overcapacity problems since the mid-2010's.

Info?

It wasn't until recently that fractured power markets were more unified

Info? Could you expound please? I'm somewhat familiar with some European power markets...https://www.eex.com/en/. https://www.eex.com/en/markets/power-derivatives-market

showing for brisket geographic sales.

There will be lots of brisket at the Cyber Rodeo! ?

 

[DarinCT]

Info?



Info? Could you expound please? I'm somewhat familiar with some European power markets...https://www.eex.com/en/. https://www.eex.com/en/markets/power-derivatives-market



There will be lots of brisket at the Cyber Rodeo! ?

I'm talking about day ahead and spot markets.

This is the first journal article I found about Spain's overcapacity in the past. I'm confident I could find more.

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jen/2016/8510527/ (https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/8510527)

Regarding the last couple of years, there was a MoU with Morocco. There's RED and France ( https://www.ree.es/sites/default/files/electricity_interconnections_eng_2.pdf ). There's also the policy and cheerleading about the EU Energy Union and European Energy Commission, mostly in 2018 and 2020.

It you're a residential solar generator in Spain, you're getting worked over but that's not who the Prime Minister is talking about.

The thing that mostly irked me is Musk oversimplifying something that takes momentum, multiple organizations, and battling bureaucracy. The Prime Minister put out an advertisement and Musk's response was "do it yourself". Gee, thanks, really helpful there Musk.

 

[TruckElectric]

The thing that mostly irked me is Musk oversimplifying something that takes momentum, multiple organizations, and battling bureaucracy.

To be fair, you can't into much detail on Twitter. Elon's tweet did make it look like an oversimplification.

The Prime Minister put out an advertisement

I think he wants Elon to come to Spain and maybe look at some kind of investments into the energy sector. Maybe a Giga factory for solar? Megapacks?