Iberdrola and Endesa, two of Spain's leading power suppliers, have guardedly welcomed the details of the Spanish government's emissions trading allowances for 2008-12.
The Spanish government’s plan calls for a 16.5% reduction in the number of emissions allowances permitted for the whole of Spanish industry, but the electricity generating sector is set to receive only 67% of the permits it asked for.
In comments reported by AFX, Iberdrola said the ETS policy was able to marry industry protection with incentives to reduce emissions, with the permit capping targeting those industries where it is most possible, allowing other sectors with lower capacity to reduce emissions to adapt.
Endesa said in a statement that, under the government’s released 2008-12 targets, it hoped to receive a higher allocation than currently projected in its strategic plan, consolidating the competitiveness of its generation assets and leading to a higher forecast EBITDA than currently contemplated in the aforementioned plan.