José Donoso, Director General of the Spanish Photovoltaic Association (UNEF)
Geopolitical instability once again reminds us of an uncomfortable reality: energy remains one of the main sources of strategic vulnerability for Western countries. The current escalation of tensions in the Middle East — involving key actors at the centre of the global energy balance — has reopened the debate about dependence on imported fossil fuels. Every crisis in that region has almost immediate effects on international oil and gas markets, with direct repercussions on energy prices, inflation and the economic stability of importing countries such as Spain.
In this context, the transition to renewable energy can no longer be understood solely as a climate policy. It has also become a matter of energy sovereignty, economic security and industrial competitiveness. And in the case of Spain, it is also an opportunity for reindustrialisation.
For more than a century, the global energy system has been dominated by geostrategy: the control of territories rich in oil and gas, or the routes through which these resources are transported. Oil reserves, pipelines, gas pipelines and strategic maritime passages have shaped alliances, conflicts and balances of power. Much of international politics over the last century can, in fact, be interpreted as a struggle for access to and control of these resources.
The current situation also reveals a particularly uncomfortable historical paradox for Europe. Despite geopolitical tensions and the conflict in Ukraine, the continent has continued for years to depend on imports of fossil fuels from Russia, directly or indirectly.
In other words, part of the revenue with which the Kremlin is financing the invasion of Ukraine comes from the European market. It is a paradox that is difficult to ignore: for the first time in contemporary history, democratic economies have been financing one of their main strategic rivals through their own energy dependence.
Spain is a clear example. Since the war in Ukraine began, our country has provided €3 billion in direct military and economic aid to Ukraine. During the same period, purchases of gas from Russia have reached €9 billion.
This reality highlights the extent to which an energy model based on fossil fuels creates structural vulnerabilities. Diversifying suppliers is not a sufficient response to every crisis. The strategic decision must be a determined reduction in energy dependence.
The energy transition opens the door to a change of paradigm. In place of a geostrategy based on natural resources concentrated in specific regions, a new logic is emerging: technostrategy. In the new energy system, competitive advantage will depend less on controlling territories rich in oil and more on mastering the technologies that enable the production, storage and management of clean energy.
The new model based on renewable energy offers a major advantage: the sun and the wind are everywhere. Once an installation has been built, it can produce energy for 30 years without creating any dependency. Geography loses value.
Spain is in a unique position within this scenario. Traditionally, it has been a country dependent on imports of fossil fuels. At the same time, however, it has one of the greatest solar generation potentials in Europe, thanks to having on average twice as many hours of sunshine as northern Europe and the availability of land to benefit from economies of scale. A kilowatt produced in Spain costs 50% less than one produced in Germany.
To this must be added the competitiveness achieved by energy storage technologies, which allow solar production to be shifted to hours when the sun is not shining. In Spain’s case, storage would help avoid renewable energy curtailment during periods of high production and low demand, thereby maximising the use of natural resources.
This combination represents a historic opportunity. Every megawatt of renewable capacity installed reduces the need to import gas or oil, decreases exposure to international volatility and improves the trade balance. Domestic energy, in addition to being clean, is also a tool for strategic autonomy and national independence.
The progress made in the deployment of photovoltaic energy in recent years has allowed Spain to maintain electricity prices that are lower and less volatile than those of the surrounding European environment. From a national defence perspective, it is also important to consider the growing relevance of self-consumption systems with batteries, which — as we are seeing in Ukraine — make it possible to maintain a more resilient electricity supply in the face of attacks on large installations or high-voltage transmission lines.
But we need to go further than achieving energy independence in the electricity sector alone. The large-scale development of solar and wind power has meant that today only 5% of our imports are used for electricity generation. Despite this, Spain remains one of the European countries with the highest dependence on fossil fuels, with a dependency rate of 70%. Electrifying as soon as possible and as much as possible would allow us to rely on more competitive energy and greater energy — and therefore political — sovereignty.
Energy crises triggered by international conflicts frequently remind us that the price of oil and gas can skyrocket within weeks. When this happens, the impact quickly spreads across the entire economy: more expensive transport, higher electricity prices, rising production costs and inflation.
By contrast, the cost of producing solar or wind electricity barely changes once the infrastructure has been installed. An energy system based on domestic renewable resources significantly reduces exposure to these external shocks.
The energy transition, therefore, is not only a climate policy. It is also an economic, industrial and geopolitical strategy. It represents the shift from a world dominated by the geostrategy of oil to one defined by the technostrategy of clean technologies.
If energy policy has always been embedded in economic policy, it is now also becoming part of defence policy. Thanks to renewable energy, it becomes a tool of national sovereignty as well as a driver of economic growth.