Spain and the European Commission are looking at taxes on low-cost electricity that Madrid imports from Morocco.
Teresa Ribera, the Spanish Minister of Ecological Transition, sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Energy, Miguel Arias Canetti, in which she denounced Morocco’s low-cost electricity flow to the Iberian market and asked for his opinion.
According to the minister, this electricity, produced at the coal-fired power plant in Safi, is not subject to the EU’s carbon tax and is not subject to competition.
“Because of the operation of coal-fired power stations in Morocco, Spanish fossil fuel stations are in a non-competitive position because they have to bear the cost of carbon dioxide emissions fees”, Ribera said.
Spain has unveiled that it has begun to buy electricity from Morocco’s coal-fired power plant in Safi since last November (find details here). Spain plans to close most of its polluted stations, starting with coal plants, by 2025.
