The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, reported this morning that in the last few hours he has had several conversations with the Third Vice President and Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, with whom he agreed on the need to limit the scope of the implementation of gas in the islands.
The president recalled that self-consumption is authorized in ports, “but to supply ships and boats, as well as in thermal power plants for self-consumption. In no case –he stressed-, to market the gas outside of these areas and so that it can reach the municipalities through city gas or gas pipelines”. “Therefore, there can be no pipelines for gas to reach other places and the city gas option is completely eliminated, which is not a sustainable energy”.
The Canary Islands' commitment to renewable energies “is clear and resounding” and is confirmed, for example, by the 466 million from the State for the Islands for clean alternatives.
For Torres, it is essential to emphasize that the energy strategy of the two governments is similar in this case “and it is only planned that gas will be a transition mechanism for green hydrogen and for self-consumption in the main ports of the Canary Islands or for that of thermal power plants”. The president believes that, after these calls, “the open debate is settled and I want to convey this to public opinion”.
Before the media, Torres indicated that, if necessary, the wording of that Royal Decree-Law 6/2022 that regulates the measures against the economic crisis unleashed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, will be clarified “with the mechanisms that both governments establish, such as, for example, through a legislative modification or others to have the best and clearest wording and that it is not interpretable”. This clarification will leave no room for doubt about the implementation of a Gas City gas system in the Canary Islands, which is something ruled out by the energy planning of the Canary Islands.
According to what he clarified, what was included in the decree is a technical contribution that the Community was unaware of, but that, in relation to the Islands, has been clarified with the minister with the two calls yesterday and today.
