Question: What was the role of coal in the development of Asturias?

Answer: Coal is a very important player in our history. But even more than that, one could say that coal has been everything for us. The first mining licencing in Spain was in Asturias back in 1593. From there on, coal has not only been the centre of our economy, but also the social, technological, and environmental life of the region. Industries intensive in coal consumption such as steel came to Asturias because we had coal. In the second half of the 20th century, we installed several thermal coal plants which gave us the advantage of producing electricity. Eventually, steel, zinc, and aluminium industries came to the region. This “energy hub” in the region attracted more industries such as cement, chemical industries, or even cellulose. As you can see, coal is in the centre and the beginning of everything in Asturias. Industry comprises more than 20% of the regional GDP, all because of coal. We are an industrial region and I believe we must remain an industrial region in the coming years.

Q: How dependent was Asturiason coal in the past compared to the status of coal today?

A: The regional energy sector has always been based on coal. For example, at the beginning of 2020, we had five coal thermal power stations with an installed capacity of over 2000 megawatts (out of 4500 megawatts of production). Three of them just announced their closure, and another one will be converted. As you can imagine, this is a big transition. Until 2018, we had several coal areas in the region with a production that represented more than 30% of the total production of Spain. As I was saying, there is a very close interrelationship between industry and coal and we cannot separate them from one another. From an employment perspective, at one point we had more than 400,000 coal mine workers. In the 2000s that number was 75,500 and today, we have around 800. The entire coal sector employs around 3000 people, but if we include all other sectors that are dependent on coal, we could say that approximately 14% of the employment in Asturias is affected by coal energy and related industries. We are talking about a very important impact of coal on the employment of the region.

Q: Is there a socio-cultural element to coal in Asturias, or is it just about the economic impact?

A: Absolutely. The social impact of the coal sector in Asturias is huge. As I was saying, coal has been everything in Asturias. There is a deep social root in the whole region and the mining towns. I would say that most families in Asturias had a relative working in the mines at one point or another. This kind of activity is very well known by Asturians. There is almost religious respect in the coal areas. This experience of the miners permeates all of society. Infrastructures, highways, social life, ICT, facilities, even entire villages have been developed around mines. There is a general feeling of gratitude towards coal and its people. However, we cannot forget the environmental impact that we need to address.

Q: What is happening to the coal sector in the immediate future?

A: Due to thermal power plants closures, we will go from 4,500 to 550 megawatts soon. This means that 75% of the coal generation of the region will disappear in a year. The impact of this is very high because the only remaining coal plants will be only working some hours in the year and will eventually close. In the short term, the only consumption in the region will be for steel activity, which is also foreseen to go through decarbonisation. In short, it is a real phase-out of the entire economy but, as I always say, this transition is not because of economic or technical reasons. We still have enough resources and our plants have been adapted to the European environmental laws. This transition is due to political and strategic reasons, which we fully support. But we also think that some regions, including Asturias, require the aid and support of the European Union and the National Government. We are committed to the just transition but we need support.

Q: How does the transition away from coal impact employment in the region?

A: We are losing jobs, and we have been losing jobs for a while. But the issue is not so much about how much employment we are losing, but of the speed at which this is happening, which makes it harder to replace them in the short term. In addition to that, energy-intensive industries and the coal sector are traditionally high-quality jobs and this is a concern that we need to take into account. We have to create new types of employment with at least the same quality, and this is going to be very difficult.

Q: What's your perception of people's feelings about these issues?

A: I would say it is a topic of constant discussion. We are talking about coal and the energy transition every day. I would say that, in the territories, people are looking at this with a lot of scepticism, and even disbelief. They feel like they have been deceived many times and they fear being left behind during the process of decarbonization. These are areas with an ageing population too, so they are facing many difficulties during the transition. We have tried to open different ways of collaboration with the national government, among ourselves, with the regional government, with the local authorities and with the stakeholders in the area.

Q: What is your perspective on the region's goals over 5-10 years?

A: When we started to work on the transition, our initial time frame was 2030, with an intermediate framework of 2025. But the sanitary crisis turned everything around and we are seeing that things are even more accelerated than we had foreseen one year and a half ago. Companies are also going through this path of transition faster than we expected them to. Some of the coal plants we thought would be closing around 2028 have already announced their closure in the next year. All these challenges are developing faster than we had initially thought. I think that the period should be 10 years, and not only we have to adapt to a new model of renewable energy generation, but we also have to renew the model of employment creation. In addition to the mine closures, we are also facing the decarbonization of our industries which is happening in a very short period. We are miners and we are based on coal, but we are committed to achieving the transition from a coal-based economy towards diversification. We want to fulfil the EU and national objectives, and we want to leave a better world for our children. Our main concern is: how do we achieve this? How much is it going to cost Asturias and other regions? How much support do we need? How much support are we receiving? We have four priorities: keeping the security and quality of energy supply of the region, keeping a healthy industrial sector, maintaining employment; and the decarbonization of the region. To achieve this, social dialogue is key. We have created a committee to develop a document of the impacts and opportunities of the transition in Asturias. We organized over 30 meetings and engaged more than 50 stakeholders to try to identify opportunities in our region.

Q: What kind of Asturias would you like to see in the future?

A: Asturias is a beautiful region with a natural beauty that is the envy of many. We have a high quality of life, good infrastructure, good highways and access to ports. But we have an industrial network of incredible value too, and I would like to see the same beautiful region to maintain all these assets sustainably. Asturias needs to take advantage of all the opportunities and potential that it has. I would like to see a region powered with more renewable energy than the current 42%, with less consumption based on thermal coal power plants. I would like to see a green Asturias with new activities based on our resources and our capabilities.

Q: What projects are you developing to move Asturias in this direction?

A: On one hand, we have been working with the national government in what we call “agreements for just transition areas”. There are agreements for three coal areas in the region between the national government, the regional government, and the local governments, involving all the local stakeholders. In this process, we have identified many initiatives in the different areas. In every coal area, we have around 80 proposals involving around 30 stakeholders for a diverse set of projects, from renewable energy to tourism, or the food industry. This means more than 200 ideas or projects, and more than 120 stakeholders. We still have to work to turn these into implemented projects, but it is a good start. We have also worked on the Committee for the Just Transition, which is more technical and at the regional level, but involving also the local authorities. We developed a document that has been shared to get feedback from all the citizens of Asturias. We have identified different lines of businesses and different opportunities in the region. For instance, an energy sector powered by renewable energies based on our potential in wind, hydraulic or biomass. We have identified energy storage capabilities and needs, energy valorization of industrial gases and wastes for potential projects, energy efficiency in the industrial sector, the introduction of new mobility fuels in the transport sector, and, of course, energy efficiency and the renovation of buildings. We were to identify many projects that we are already working on and many ideas with concrete goals for these projects.

Q: What lessons can be drawn from already at this point in terms of implementation of projects or initiatives?

A: The initial goal is to improve the energy model and to enhance diversification in the region. We have identified initiatives and we are working with companies to identify projects and attract investments. We have around 150 projects in mining and energy, which comprise 45 companies with ideas and projects in different phases of development with more than 13,000 million euros. Now, we have to understand how to materialize these ideas. We have identified projects in renewable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, hydrogen, circular economy, etc., but we need tools to develop these. In this process, we have learned a very important lesson. For instance, funding aid is essential for companies to deploy investments in energy efficiency and to change or tend towards decarbonization of the industry in Asturias. The industry needs extra help to afford these investments. I would say that, for each euro of funding invested in the energy efficiency of industries, we can move around 10-12 euros. This is a huge rate when we compare this to other funding capabilities. Energy efficiency in the industry plays a very important role in the decarbonisation of the economy. We are trying to allocate regional resources for small projects, to enhance the bigger ones with national resources but, as I said, with good cooperation with the National and European levels of government.

Q: Asturias is one of the seven regions that received expert support from the initiative for coal regions in transition START programme. Why did you want to engage with the initiative’s support team?

A: We do need some help in this process and we thought we could benefit from the experts in the Initiative for coal regions in transition. We had always asked for technical assistance and we saw a valuable opportunity in working with them. We worked with them during 2020 and this assistance has been really important for us. We learned a lot. They helped us develop a transition strategy and align it to European and National levels, a document that is the basis for the transition plan in Asturias. They also helped us open up to stakeholders and enhance the social dialogue in the region, including companies, local authorities, local associations, business associations and unions. In terms of projects, they helped us recognize a specific set of projects, including what to ask companies and how we evaluate proposals, assess projects, and recognize what projects have more potential. The work process has been really easy and our communications very fruitful. I can only say that this assistance has been really helpful for Asturias. We are very happy with the results and I would encourage other regions to apply if they get the chance.

Q: Is there more assistance you would like to see from the EU or the National levels of government?

A: The START assistance opened up our minds to seeking out assistance, so we also applied to other assistance programmes from Europe, including one from DG REFORM to help us through the structural reforms for diversification of the region. The START programme focused on energy and coal, but there are other areas that we have to tackle. We are very grateful for the assistance we have received so far. In addition to these, our process also requires funding and tools. We are not so worried about the amount of funding, because the recovery plan will cover some of it, but we are concerned about diluting the funding or implementing a one-size-fits-all approach to it. Another funding concern we discussed is on the rules of state aid and on the flexibility of t