Years of foot-dragging by Paris have turned the Iberian Peninsula into an ‘energy island’
The governments of France, Spain and Portugal will shortly convene to discuss building more high-voltage power lines across the Pyrenees, Madrid’s energy minister Sara Aagesen has said.
France has resisted for years the laying of new cross-border cables to its Southern neighbours, in part to shield its nuclear power exports to the rest of Europe from competition from the Iberian peninsula’s cheap and abundant wind and solar power.
Brussels last year vowed to help them break the deadlock at a ‘high-level’ summit. It now appears it may actually happen.
“In the coming weeks, we will have a high-level meeting with ministers of France, Spain and Portugal, and of course with [Energy] Commissioner Dan Jorgensen, to talk about the interconnection of the southwest,” Aagesen said.
