At just over 20 years old, Mar Reguant (Lérida, 1984) arrived at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a postgraduate scholarship from the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation. There she obtained her doctorate in Economics and in the almost two decades that have passed since then, she has become a world expert in analysis of the electricity sector and renewable energies. There are many awards that prove this, such as the most recent, the National Research Award for Young People, where the jury has rewarded his international career, the versatility and innovation in the tools, methodologies and measurement techniques with which he addresses the problems. most relevant in the field of Energy, Environment and Climate Change. She is currently an ICREA doctor at the Institut de Anàlisi Econòmica (IAE-CSIC) and professor at Northwestern University.
When analyzing the situation in Spain in terms of decarbonization, the young scientist highlights the progress made although she believes that they are “slow.” It has been improved because “before almost nothing was done.” He makes a distinction when talking about these advances because “there are two sides.” If we talk about the pure electrical system, «we are from the best countriesthe system is very decarbonized, and that despite being isolated from the rest of the world, which makes it more difficult,” highlights the Catalan researcher. “Despite a large investment in natural gas before the 2008 crisis, market forces are now driving renewable energy,” says Reguant. The negative part is found in the electric car because “an attempt has been made to delay it and it is a necessary change. “We are at the bottom at the European level,” he laments.
On a business level, he values the work carried out by companies such as Red Eléctrica, where there has also been a lot of research. He also remembers success stories that existed within the renewable sector, such as Gamesa, “which was one of the large wind companies, and a lot of progress was made.” And currently there are areas, such as solar energy, in which “the business community is very active and dynamic in development and installation because production is done in China.” Despite this strength, he clarifies that there is still much to advance in technological development.
Reguant was part of the working group on the economic challenges of climate change commissioned by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. «It was a group of economic experts on different topics. Being one of the youngest, my job was to bring them updated news in the field of climate change,” explains the researcher, who remembers that for many of those present, “renewables were an expensive option.” He believes that his great contribution to the group was “deeply updating the prejudices that Macron’s experts had with very outdated information. “It was recent, but in this field a lot changes in a short time.” Precisely in France there is a lot of talk about nuclear energy once it has reinforced its commitment to it to achieve carbon neutrality. “If we look at the numbers, nuclear energy is expensive in Europe” once solar energy has such a presence. As for the idea of extending the life of nuclear plants, “it must be done carefully.” And it focuses on an issue that can have important consequences, that of the increase in energy consumption of all data and AI centers. «If energy production is going to triple with them, something will have to be done. The fastest would be with renewables and batteries that no longer consume as much,” he points out.
Pending work
There are still many tasks that remain to be done in terms of decarbonization and the researcher is critical of some issues. «In Africa they are trying to grow a little and consume almost no energy. It is cheaper for them to extract gas than solar, but it is absurd not to do it with the sun, with all the hours of sunshine there are,” reflects the researcher. “Gas plants are being built and this should not be like this,” he adds. He calls for Europe to play a leading role in the decarbonization of Africa where “we can provide innovation that can be adapted to other countries, we have to reflect a little.”
Another aspect to take into account is that «1% of the world’s population emits 17% of emissions. No matter how liberal you are, you cannot justify it, you need to ask yourself difficult questions,” he highlights. Although there is improvement in some places, “at a global level we are getting less worse but not better.”
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