Dr. Santiago M. López, Director of the IECyT (Institute of Science and Technology Studies), University of Salamanca, Spain.

Speech Title: Why was Spain a global wind power before the Great Recession? The CECRE from 2006 to 2012

Abstract: In the economic analysis that is conducted of the electrical regulatory framework, too much emphasis is made on tariffs and laws. However, technological and organizational innovations on a large scale, such as a centre for the integration in the electrical grid of electricity coming from renewable energy sources, are fundamental. This article presents the role in the growth of renewable energies of the first large-scale centre in the world that allowed an integrated and automated management of this type of energy sources: the Spanish CECRE of the company REE (Red Eléctrica de España. S.A.). This paper studies the period between 2004-2013, when Spain became the fourth country after China, the USA and Germany in installed capacity of renewable energies and, in relative terms, the second country after Denmark.