EC Brokers End to Spain-Portugal Dispute

Spain and Portugal have agreed to settle a dispute involving nuclear waste and energy interconnectors. European Commission (EC) president Jean-Claude Juncker said February 21 that he and the two countries’ prime ministers had reached an “amicable settlement concerning the Almaraz case.”

The settlement engages Spain and Portugal in a dialogue to settle their dispute over the construction of a nuclear waste landfill at the Almaraz nuclear power station. The EC said a joint visit to the site by the three parties would occur in the coming days, and that it and a consultation process would allow them to “examine and take into account legitimate concerns on the project and agree proportionate measures.”

The Almaraz plant in western Spain, which uses the Tagus river that runs into Portugal for cooling, is 53% owned by Iberdrola, 36% by Enel subsidiary Endesa and 11% by Gas Natural. The settlement follows a meeting of Juncker with Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy and his Portuguese counterpart Antonio Costa at an EU summit in Malta on February 3.

Under it, Spain commits to share with Portugal all relevant environmental and nuclear safety information in order to show the waste repository will not significantly affect Portuguese territory.

As a result, Portugal commits to withdraw its complaint against Spain relating to the planned nuclear waste landfill, introduced on January 16 2017, under Article 259 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

All three also agree to “accelerate the work of the [EU] High Level Group on Interconnections for South West Europe to develop the necessary gas and electricity interconnection projects connecting Portugal and Spain, as well as the Iberian Peninsula with the European markets.” This would increase Europe's security of energy supply, improve the reliability of the electricity system, improve service to industrial users, and optimise Europe’s system in a way that would lead to a reduction of fuel imports and of energy prices, the statement declared.

Lessons from French energy crisis?

Brussels might also benefit from having Spain and Portugal jointly backing the MidCat gas interconnector to France, in the face of a strongly opposed French energy regulator which believes that project would be a waste of money. France in January 2017 suffered chronic if temporary tightness of power and gas supply, due to exceptionally cold weather and a nuclear regulator-enforced urgent inspection of 20 reactors.

The EC, Spain and Portugal want the Iberian peninsula to provide a bridge for more North African gas and LNG to access the rest of the EU gas market by pipeline; the current routes into France, without MidCat, however are too constrained.

NGW invited the French energy regulator to discuss if there were lessons to be drawn from the January 2017 energy supply tightness, particularly regarding MidCat, but received no response.

Views of the Almaraz nuclear power plant (Photo credit: its joint venture operating CNAT)

Mark Smedley