• The study strengthens parliamentary debate with evidence and context.
• It provides Parliament of Catalonia with a structured overview of how the energy system works, the current state of Catalonia’s energy mix, and the main technical, economic, regulatory and social challenges linked to the energy transition.
• Its purpose is to offer an analytical framework to understand the system’s real constraints and anticipate the implications of energy and industrial policy choices.

Today, Monday 26 January, the report La matriu energètica a Catalunya: situació actual i reptes de futur (“Catalonia’s energy mix: current situation and future challenges”) was presented to the Consell Assessor del Parlament sobre Ciència i Tecnologia (CAPCIT, Advisory Council of the Parliament on Science and Technology). Commissioned by CAPCIT, it was prepared by Dr Mar Reguant, ICREA Research Professor at the Institute for Economic Analysis (IAE-CSIC) and Associate at the Barcelona School of Economics (BSE), and Dr Albert Tarancón, ICREA Research Professor and Head of the Nanoionics and Fuel Cells Department at the Fundació Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya (IREC), the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research.

The report starts from a central premise: the energy transition is not only a technological challenge, but a systemic transformation that requires decision-making under physical, economic and social constraints, managed with transparency. In this sense, it organises the factors that shape the pace and cost of decarbonisation and identifies what should be anticipated to reduce uncertainty and avoid bottlenecks.

The report describes an energy mix still strongly shaped by fossil fuels. In final energy consumption:

– petroleum products account for 47.5%,

– natural gas 18.7%,

– and electricity 25.8%.

Direct-use renewables contribute 7.8% and, applying the Eurostat methodology, gross final renewable energy consumption stands at 10.5%.

By sector, transport remains the largest energy consumer (41.3%), followed by industry (26.6%) and the household and services sectors combined (28.8%). These figures reinforce the report’s core message: the success of the transition will largely depend on accelerating electrification and cutting fossil-fuel use in the most energy-intensive sectors.

For electricity generation (2024), the report notes that:

– nuclear power provides 56.7% (22,972.3 GWh),

– renewables reach 21.6% (8,728.8 GWh),

– combined cycle accounts for 12.5% (5,060.6 GWh),

– cogeneration 7.2% (2,917.0 GWh),

– and other non-renewables 2.0% (802.8 GWh).

Within renewables, the rebound in hydropower stands out (8.9%), followed by wind (7.1%) and solar PV (4.5%). The system totals 12.8 GW of installed capacity, with renewables now representing 39% of capacity, and the report highlights the continued growth of solar self-consumption (more than 1.4 GW installed and over 126,000 active installations).

The report frames the transition within PROENCAT 2050, the roadmap to climate neutrality, which charts the path towards a climate-neutral energy system with greater energy sovereignty. Among the headline targets, it includes:

– reducing import dependence to below 8% by mid-century,

– achieving a reduction in final energy consumption of over 30% compared to 2017 through efficiency and electrification,

– and setting deployment milestones for the power system: 50% renewable electricity generation by 2030, 2.2 GW of storage capacity, a 100% renewable electricity system by 2050, and an electrification rate of final demand rising to 78%.

The report concludes that the future energy system will necessarily be renewable and draws attention to unavoidable tensions that must be managed—such as balancing climate ambition with delivery capacity, or infrastructure deployment with territorial acceptance. The message is clear: the transition is inevitable and must be addressed through consensus, governance and planning, with an integrated system-wide approach. In this context, the report is positioned as a public reference document to inform debate and support a transition grounded in technical judgement, rigour and coherent policy design.

In line with national frameworks and instruments, the report emphasises:

– the roll-out of key technologies (electrification, storage, flexibility and grids) supported by an appropriate regulatory and institutional environment,

– and the coordination of energy, industrial and territorial policy, with R&D&I as a lever for an efficient, secure and competitive transition.

You can access the full report via this link (in catalan): la matriu energètica a Catalunya: situació actual i reptes de futur.