Interview with Santos García, Managing Director of Enertis, by Energética XXI

In a few lines, tell us what your company offers to the sector and how many years you’ve been in the sector…

With a track record of more than 14 years, Enertis is a global consulting and engineering firm with over 135 GW of accumulated experience worldwide and more than 2,500 mainly PV renewable energy projects in over 65 countries. We provide our clients with independent technical advisory services based on innovation and high quality, incorporating the latest trends due to our worldwide exposure. Our goal is to support our clients in all phases of the project, guaranteeing maximum profitability and adequate risk management by applying state-of-the-art technologies. We offer equipment manufacturing supervision services, development assistance and third-party negotiation support, technical advice in the financing stage, property engineering at all levels, construction supervision, and finally testing both in-field and in our fixed and mobile laboratories accredited by the National Accreditation Entity (ENAC). Innovation is a fundamental value for our clients, which is why we invest between 3-4% of our annual revenue in R&D&I.

The ongoing pandemic has affected several sectors dramatically. In your opinion, how has it affected your company and the energy market?

At Enertis we implemented a series of strict hygiene and control measures right from the start of the pandemic. Our main goal is to care for our employees’ health by following health authorities’ indications at all times. Specifically, the pandemic has mainly affected the way we provide technical services that require personnel to travel to different countries and areas of the world due to international travel restrictions and each country’s internal mobility constraints. Despite the difficulties, we have managed to minimize the impact thanks to previously implemented mechanisms that enable knowledge transfer throughout our office network and over multiple projects, thereby maintaining Enertis’ high quality standards at all times. The result of this effort has been very positive and even in these exceptional circumstances we have continued to grow in terms of projects and personnel.

What have been the main developments in the energy sector in general and in your niche market in particular from 2000 until today?

In the last two decades the energy sector has undergone a radical transformation process. This transformation is marked on the one hand by the rise of renewable energy production technologies, especially photovoltaic solar, which have become highly competitive, and on the other hand by the spread of digital technologies for energy supply, such as Big Data, Cloud Computing and artificial intelligence development, which have enabled new business models to emerge where consumers become key players. More specifically, at Enertis we were already working on services that rely on these technologies to enable a more in-depth, more accurate and faster diagnosis in image processing, performance analysis with historical plant data, predictive performance simulations, etc. Herein, one must add ongoing module evolution, inverters, trackers, design systems, etc., which continually lead us to roll out new services. 

In the next 10 years…could you give us a vision of what is to come in the energy sector?

The paradigm shift process in the energy sector is an unstoppable phenomenon that will undoubtedly continue in the years to come, such that, in the medium term the sector will be more decentralized, open, digital and clean. The renewable energy sector in particular has generated a significant industrial fabric and its doubtless future expansion will be a key driver out of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, as it is a key vector for economic recovery and bolsters environmentally friendly activities. Very soon in our country we will see the real integration of storage systems, and Enertis is already working on practical implementations of this on several projects in different countries. This integration will enable greater penetration of clean energy at all levels, both in terms of large plants as well as industrial and domestic applications, thereby giving greater control to large and small generators in order to improve their profitability and efficiency.

Interview published in Energética 21 (in Spanish)