Rafael González: “An installation of solar panels can achieve savings of between 40% and 45%”
Óscar Bermejo: “There is a monopoly situation on the part of the peninsular electricity market”
“We can reduce the energy consumption of our homes by up to 25%, if we make rational use of household appliances,” said Javier Santacruz, financial manager of the CANALUZ Industrial Energy Communities Project, at the information day 'Turn off the light to see the light' at the XXX Summer University of Maspalomas.
This conference promoted by CANALUZ, a leading Canarian company in the regional clean energy market, consisted of informing residents in the south of Gran Canaria of the procedures and procedures to benefit from a free financing system for the decarbonization of 1.000 homes, with the installation of solar panels.Javier Santacruz participated together with Rafael González, CEO of Izpitek Solar-Solarface; and Óscar Bermejo, vice president of the National Association for the Energy Transition.
Javier Santacruz highlighted that "40% of domestic electricity consumers and 70% of industrial consumers have a daily rate linked to the market", an issue that produces "extreme vulnerability due to the enormous increase in costs."
Santacruz explained that “the greatest energy savings in homes are in what is not consumed,” so he offered several examples to save when we do not use appliances, in addition to rationalizing the use of energy and the implementation of alternative energies.
In addition, he said that it is important for each person to do an analysis of their consumption habits, to plan a rational use of energy, such as the use of the electric water heater, since "it does not make much sense for it to be connected and running twenty-four hours a day." ", since "throughout the day, it loses temperature, so the ideal is to have a programmable plug so that it comes into operation two hours before our habits."
The financial manager also referred to televisions and music equipment, "if we want them to not work when we leave home, we will have to have power strips that have an on and off button." These are measures that, in a single home, "do not have as much impact, but if done in all of them, it can mean great savings."
Javier Santacruz assured that it is not necessary for pool filters to work all day, "although everything will depend on the use of each pool, four to eight hours a day could be enough." Regarding heat pumps, he advised that they be activated at night and also recommended that outdoor parking lots with canopies be used “to install photovoltaic energy panels.”
For his part, Rafael González focused on energy self-consumption systems and said that "they represent a decision that requires a study that assesses the necessary investment and knowing our financial resources and our energy needs," since "in this way, it is not “It will neglect the personal or company economic situation and will mean a benefit, even if it is small.” Furthermore, he highlighted the importance of social awareness as an integrating element of measures for decarbonization.
González explained that “with an installation of solar panels you can achieve savings of between 40% and 45%,” but that “of all the studies we do, only between 5% and 10% of interested parties hire them.” ", something that occurs "due to the lack of social pedagogy that exists regarding the importance of installing these panels that pay for themselves twice as fast in the Canary Islands as in the Peninsula."
The CEO of Izpitek Solar-Solarface explained that the important thing is to “install what we need in the short term”, since there are different alternatives, depending on each case and highlighted “the intelligent management of our available economic resources”, through “ own and investment funds, bank financing, management of available subsidies and mixed financial models.” Likewise, he explained that there are different types of installations such as “private ones, in public service buildings, in companies or energy communities.”
In his turn, Óscar Bermejo addressed the “low investment in energy that there has been in recent times.” He explained that our electrical systems “are delicate and we have to be very careful with them, because otherwise we will suffer blackouts.”
Bermejo stated that "there is a monopoly situation on the part of the peninsular market", where there is "a certain competition that forces large electricity companies to improve their systems to provide a service in accordance with the needs of citizens." However, he criticized that in the Canary Islands "this monopoly can allow problems to arise from time to time", a reality that "our society should not tolerate."