Article
A Free-Market Environmentalist Enquiry on Spain’s Energy Transition along with Its Recent Increasing Electricity Prices
Registro en:
10.3390/ijerph19159493
16617827
Autor
Wang, William Hongsong
Espinosa, Victor I.
Huerta de Soto, Jesús
Institución
Resumen
This paper analyzes the Spanish energy transition’s general situation and its increasing electricity prices in recent years from a free-market environmentalist (FME) approach. We hypothesize and argue that high taxes, high government subsidies, and government industrial access restrictions breach private property rights, hindering Spain’s renewable energy (RE) development. Our paper discovers that Spain’s state-interventionist policies have increased the cost of the energy and power industries, leading to electricity prices remaining relatively high before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. After reviewing the literature on the FME approach and Spain’s case, a Box–Jenkins (ARIMA) model is used to clarify the economic performance of the Spanish electricity industry with a proposal for forecasting electricity prices. It is observed that Spain fails the EU and its national goal of providing an affordable energy price as a part of the green energy transition. Finally, free-market environmental solutions and policy reforms are proposed to facilitate Spain’s energy transition. © 2022 by the authors. European Regional Development Fund, ERDF