CLOSING SPEECH - RAFAEL MIRANDA ROBREDO

In his closing remarks, incoming EURELECTRIC President Rafael Miranda Robredo thanked all conference participants, organisers, partners and sponsors and declared that “it has been a true honour to be with you this afternoon as EURELECTRIC President”. Mr Miranda praised the leadership of outgoing President Hans Haider at the head of the association during the last few years, which had “enabled EURELECTRIC to position itself at the forefront of the industry on a European level, which provides me with an excellent starting point”, he said.

Given that “electricity and hence the electricity sector is going to be a basic component in achieving the right level of competitiveness in Europe in the coming years, the challenges that will be arising in the electricity sector in the future are many and varied”, he predicted.

Setting out some of those challenges, Mr Miranda spoke of the need to guarantee the supply of raw materials via an adequate level of local-supply plus source diversification, while electricity security of supply implies the full sweep “from achieving an adequate reserve margin, to the establishment of a transport and distribution network with sufficient capacity and scope to provide optimum quality to all customers”, said Mr Miranda.

In addition, he insisted that “we must also be capable of finding formulas that enable the coexistence of the environmental objectives with economic goals, by promoting market-orientated policies for sustainable development, so that it can guarantee its own operation at minimum cost”.

The new EURELECTRIC President spoke of the ongoing integration of national electricity markets, which “will require an additional effort from the involved parties, including ourselves”.

Another key area will be to “continue improving energy efficiency, developing solutions on both the demand side, with measures that encourage energy savings as well as on the supply side, with heavy commitment to innovation that will allow us to develop ever-increasingly competitive and efficient technologies”.

Looking back at the 2-day Annual Conference, Mr Miranda said “we have gone deeply into all the issues that worry us and have produced a realistic view of the industry’s current situation and how we must face up to the future”.

Closing, the EURELECTRIC President invited all members of the audience to the next Annual EURELECTRIC Conference, which will be held in the Norwegian capital Oslo on 12-13 June 2006, on the theme of the “role and benefits of electricity to society”.