Water, the Blue Currency of Geopolitics
On 18 November, Barcelona will host the XX Foro de la Economía del Agua, with water geopolitics as the focus of the opening panel. On the 21st-century geopolitical chessboard, water has ceased to be a [...]
Industry already operates with 4,345 MW on the transmission grid, while data centres queue up with 22,142 MW
Foro Industria y Energía and Opina 360 are expanding their overview of the Spanish electricity system by now incorporating demand data from the transmission grid. The cross-analysis of the transmissio [...]
Can Industry Drown in a Glass of Water?
Analysts Leonard Hyman and William Tilles warn that water scarcity is becoming an energy security issue. Water risk travels through the power grid and reaches the entire energy system on which industr [...]
Hormuz is the symptom, not the disease
Published in El Economista Hormuz has not created our industry’s competitiveness problems; it has intensified them and, above all, made them visible. The question we have been asking ourselves incorre [...]
Can industrial initiative unlock access to the electricity grid?
Under current legislation, industrial companies can “build” their own electricity substations, but the procedures are complex and the decision on access lies, in the first instance, with the grid oper [...]
Productivity Looks at Energy in the Age of AI
J.R. Morante and H. Santcovsky September 25, 2026 For decades we have spoken of productivity as a relationship between labor, capital, technology, and organization. Artificial intelligence now compels [...]
Foro Industria y Energía warns that grid saturation continues to rise despite new regulations
FIE presents updated map of access capacity to electrical substations. 86.5% of analyzed substations have no available access capacity, compared to 86.3% recorded in March. The system has lost 282 MW [...]
Industry Wasn’t Built to Stop: What Six SRAD Activations Reveal
No industrial plant is designed, financed, or managed with the purpose of getting paid to stand idle. The compensation under the Active Demand Response Service (SRAD) is necessary, but an exceptional [...]
Carbon budgets for mobility, infrastructures and planning
J.R. Morante and H. Santcovsky 4 September 2026 Talking about industry and energy also means talking about transport. Industrial activity does not end at the factory gate: raw materials, components, f [...]
Brussels goes all in on electrification, but leaves questions in the air
On 17 July, the European Commission presented the Electrification Action Plan, the package with which it aims to put European industry, transport, and buildings on the path toward electricity as the m [...]
The cable that plugs into Zalia: why substations shape the industrial map
The story of the Zalia substation perfectly illustrates the mismatch that often exists between urban planning and the reality of energy supply. The real key to 21st-century economic development does n [...]
Industry in the mirror: beyond generation at Noche de la Energía
Industrial competitiveness depends not only on producing clean energy, but also on ensuring that this energy can reach where it creates value. “Spain has concentrated much of its efforts on electricit [...]