Power In Spain Research Articles

Assessing the social life cycle impacts of the Spanish electricity mix: A decadal analysis

Power generation systems are crucial to national energy transitions, such as Spain's, which stands as a notable example. However, this profound transformation could have multifaceted implications, leading to unintended consequences on society. The present work is the first to understand the social impacts of the Spanish power sector and their technology supply chains using the social life cycle sssessment methodology. The functional unit is 1 kWh of electricity produced by the technologies in the Spanish electricity mix. A cradle-to-gate approach is taken using a supply chain protocol to complete the system boundaries. The social life cycle inventory, comprising data on national suppliers, working hours and social flows, was integrated into the PSILCA database to derive the social profile of each power technology and, consequently, to obtain a comprehensive view of the Spanish power sector. The results reveal that social impact associated with the Spanish electricity mix has increased or remained stable from 2010 to 2022. Analysis of four indicators (child labour, contribution of the sector to the economic development, frequency of forced labour and women in the sectoral labour force) reveals significant differences, highlighting three main social hotspots: i) solar PV panel production in East and Southeast Asia, particularly China, ii) natural gas extraction and refining in North Africa, concentrated in Algeria, for natural gas combined cycle and cogeneration plants, and iii) construction and operation of hydropower and nuclear plants in Spain. This study demonstrates that current strategies for Spain's power sector transition may not guarantee a favourable social performance, emphasizing the need for balanced environmental and social considerations in energy policy making, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Analysing the impact of renewable energy auctions on market concentration

An abundant literature on the advantages and drawbacks of different auction design elements exists. However, their comparative effects on market concentration have not been explored, despite the increasing concern of governments about this issue. This article covers this gap in the literature. It follows an exploratory approach to provide a better understanding of the relationship between auctions, design elements and market concentration. An analytical framework is developed to assess the effects of auction and auction design elements on two aspects of market concentration (number and diversity of firms). Then, some research proposals are inferred from this framework and illustrated with a case study of wind power in Spain. Data have been collected through an expert elicitation survey and a Multi-criteria Analysis has been performed. The results show that, compared to administratively-set remuneration, auctions increase market concentration. Furthermore, their impact on market concentration is mediated by the choice of specific design elements (the existence of a schedule, the remuneration type and stringent prequalification requirements). However, those effects of auctions and their design elements are relatively low compared to other context factors. Therefore, if the aim is to reduce market concentration, policy makers should improve these context conditions, followed by auction design.

The party «Citizens» during the crisis of executive power in Spain (2015-2019)

The paper explores the activities of the party «Citizens» with a focus on its role in the development of the protracted crisis of executive power in Spain. For four years, the country has faced the problem of forming a government: during that period, early national elections were held four times, Spain lived without a government twice. The author studies the peculiarities of ideological image, social support and organizational principles; examines their evolution in connection with the development of crisis phenomena in the social and political life of Spain. Special emphasis is given to analysis of the maneuvers of the «Citizens» at the national and regional levels. It is concluded that the «Citizens» sought to realize their political potential: the party largely determined the process of forming government coalitions. Until 2019, «Citizens» successfully collaborated with two leading forces – socialists and conservatives. The lack of a clear self-identification of «Citizens» contributed to the maneuvering of the party and attracting the attention of the electorate with different political views. The partnership of «Citizens» with opposing forces led to a serious internal party crisis, as a result of which the party lost its political weight at the national level. In the period of the crisis the «Citizens» managed to become an integral part of the political system and determine the general direction of the transformation of the spanish bipartism towards confrontation between the conditionally left and right coalition.

Kontekst polityczny Konstytucji z Kadyksu z 1812 r.

The article presents the political context of the enactment of the Constitution of Cádiz. The crisis of power in Spain, caused by the French invasion of this kingdom, lasted from 1808 to 1814. Both the majority of Spanish elites and, above all, the wide circles of society did not accept Joseph Napoleon I Bonaparte, continuing to recognise Ferdinand VII Bourbon as the legitimate king. The Spanish War of Independence created ideal conditions to act for the liberals, whose aim was to adopt a modern constitution. This paper outlines the process by which parties with divergent political views, such as absolutists, reformers and liberals, led to the enactment of the Spanish Carta Magna. After the end of the war and the return of Ferdinand VII Bourbon from France to Spain, the king refused to sign the constitution and once again governed as an absolute monarch. The Constitution of Cádiz was no longer in force and the fragility of its foundations became apparent.

Management of terror in stalemate. The consequences of political emancipation for the mechanisms of power in Spain

The main problem of this article is constructed in the form of the question “How has the political emancipation of citizens affected the mechanisms of power in Spain after 2011?” and focuses on the analysis of the changes taking place in the local political order as a consequence of individuals’ aspirations to secure their own political subjectivity. The transfer of votes to the Podemos party is treated as a result of seeking a new framework for political action by the left-wing voters under the conditions defined by terror management theory as a existential terrorism of globalization.

Lejana y rosa by Rosario Izquierdo

Reviewed by: Lejana y rosa by Rosario Izquierdo Ana M. López-Aguilera Rosario Izquierdo Lejana y rosa Barcelona. Comba. 2021. 290 pages. CARMEN, a thirty-six-year-old professor, visits her hometown, Tarsis, a mining town in the province of Huelva in southern Spain. The return brings back memories of the summer she turned seventeen, a summer marked by the accidental death of her father, her first forays as a writer, as well as her conflictive love relationships with Julián, school boyfriend, and Álvaro G., famous writer residing temporarily in the area. Carmen’s return offers her the opportunity to make peace with those events and move on with her life. Lejana y rosa (Far and pink) is more than a novel about the personal problems of a woman in crisis. It recovers the working-class memory of the region with its history of class conflicts, fights for emancipation, and working-class solidarity. Through the experiences of a teenaged Carmela (Carmen’s nickname as an adolescent), the book discusses two key moments in the history of Spain: the decade of the 1920s that prepared the way for the advent of the Second Republic in April 1931, and [End Page 75] the change from Franco’s dictatorship to a liberal democracy in the 1970s (a period known as Transición). On one hand, the conflicts in the 1920s between the British Company, owner of the mines in Tarsis, and the Spanish miners become the background of the novel that Carmela starts to write that summer. The mining conflicts make up the subject in the essay Álvaro is writing and the memories her abuela Concha shares. The stories of love, adultery, and suicide that Carmela researches for her novel serve to foreground social and political issues such as ownership of resources, foreign interference in the Spanish economy, political corruption, environmental degradation, and poverty. On the other hand, the young Carmela lives the Transición, when Spain moves from a dictatorship to a liberal democracy. While Carmela’s relatives and neighbors contemplate such change with unrestrictive optimism, her lover and mentor, Álvaro G., offers a more sober view. During his conversations with the protagonist, in articles and interviews mentioned in the novel, Álvaro points out the limitations of the Transición to satisfy the demands of the populace for changes leading to a more equal distribution of wealth and power in Spain. Lejana y rosa combines personal and social history in a fiction that defines a social and political conflict. In doing so, Izquierdo aligns with a political trend in contemporary Spanish literature alongside authors such as Rafael Chirbes, Isaac Rosa, and Belén Gopegui. After the publication of Diario de campo and El hijo zurdo, this third novel by Izquierdo confirms her literary trajectory as a politically committed author. Ana M. López-Aguilera Bemidji State University Copyright © 2022 World Literature Today

Intrahousehold Bargaining Power in Spain: An Empirical Test of the Collective Model

This paper analyzes the intrahousehold bargaining power of spouses in Spanish families, in a collective framework. We estimate household labor supply equations and, under certain testable restrictions, we obtain a theoretically derived sharing rule for household income, which characterizes intrahousehold bargaining power. Then, using unique data on decision-making in the household, we construct Pareto weights, and study the validity of the collective model by comparing the theoretical sharing rule and the constructed Pareto weight. The results reveal that both the observed Pareto weight and the theoretical sharing rule display qualitative similarities, thus providing direct empirical support to the collective model. Furthermore, the results suggest that Spanish wives behave more altruistically, while husbands behave more egoistically. This should be taken into account by policy makers and researchers when analyzing inequality in the household, and contemplating specific policies affecting the household.

Power and satire in the front-page images of Mariano Rajoy: visual motifs as political humour

This article explores the use of photography and visual motifs as forms of political humour in contemporary media. By studying the representation of former Prime Minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy in the front pages of three Spanish newspapers (El Mundo, El País and La Vanguardia) between 2011 and 2017, the paper identifies and questions the liaisons between power and satire present in the so-called “serious” press, focusing on how different photographic traits concerning layout, composition and gestures reflect ideological choices. This photographic satire developed by printed media is then framed within a figurative tradition that goes back to Spanish royal portraiture, from Velázquez to Goya, which employs common strategies for the visual depiction of power, including satirical and humorous attributes to push specific political agendas. This examination, based on the quantified study and the visual analysis of more than 7,500 front pages, is part of the national research project Visual Motifs in the Public Sphere: Production and Circulation of Images of Power in Spain, 2011-2017. In order to determine a useful procedural approach to satirical expressions in photographs, defining which front pages invoke a remarkable satirical content, this article also presents a comparative study and a categorisation based on formal (im)balances related to the concepts of visual motif and humour.

Comparative Analysis of the Spanish and Portuguese "Soft Power" Models

The article contains a comparison of Spanish and Portuguese soft power models. Within the framework of the problem-chronological approach, mainly the method of comparative analysis was applied. On the basis of the historical parallels between the two Iberian states, the authors highlight the origins of the modern Spanish and Portuguese brands. They investigate national interpretations of the concept of soft power in Spain and Portugal and compare their main elements in the national formulas of soft power. Besides, the differences in the assessment of Spanish and Portuguese soft power in international rankings is pointed out. After the analysis of the structures of soft power management in Spain and Portugal is conducted, the attention is drawn to the juxtaposition of the activities and the influence of two linguistic institutions: the Cervantes Institute and the Camões Institute. The following conclusion is drawn: the soft power of Spain and Portugal is based on similar resources but is implemented with varying degrees of success. The Spanish soft power model became more attractive. The main reason for this is the absence of a body responsible for the national brand in Portugal, while the Spanish soft power is regulated by a government authority, The Portuguese brand is mainly managed by private institutions with little or no coordination between them.

Electric light and the visualization of Catholic power in Spain during the Restoration Era (1874–1931)

This article analyses the contested adoption of electric lights by the Spanish Catholic church during the Bourbon Restoration era (1874–1931). Through a careful reading of primary sources, namely Catholic popular magazines, and official documents, it will show how Catholic authorities and practitioners resisted, negotiated and, ultimately, engaged with electricity in religious spaces. The article argues that electric light contributed to wider exchanges in a non-monolithic Spanish Catholicism on the observance of traditional values or the possibilities of the church’s modernization. However, amid a particularly tense moment regarding the secular–clerical relations, the systematic use of electric lights in churches at the turn of the twentieth century—but also in other public ceremonies—contributed to the making of religious sensations aimed at attracting new believers and reasserting the presence of the institution in a disputed public space.

Post subsidy conditions: Evaluating the techno-economic performance of concentrating solar power in Spain

Spain is one of the front runners of the development of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) projects. In recent years, however, the CSP industry in Spain has faced significant financial challenges due to a dramatic withdrawal of the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) in 2013.The primary aim of this paper is to assess when, and under what conditions, CSP projects, in particular, Parabolic Trough Collectors can potentially reach grid parity in the absence of any subsidies. This paper also goes further to investigate whether and how Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) projects can be financially viable in the post-subsidy period, using the System Advisor Model as a simulation tool to conduct techno-economic analyses.The simulation results indicated that a 50MWe PTC project with TES of 4 hrs and a PPA price of €0.20 per kWh is the most viable model for developing CSP projects in Spain under post-subsidy condition. This paper concludes that, under current retail electricity prices and post-subsidy conditions, PTC projects can reach grid parity and become viable without direct incentives. Even though direct incentives will not be required, the CSP industry in Spain is still far from becoming fully self-sustained.

El motivo del bodegón policial

Este artículo analiza una forma de transmisión iconográfica que se origina en una fuente artística del pasado, el bodegón manierista y barroco, que es readaptado y reformulado por las fuerzas de seguridad para transmitir un mensaje comunicativo de gran impacto: los objetos decomisados en una redada policial son presentados con una forma artística, que llamamos «bodegón policial», que incita inmediatamente al sentido de culpabilidad. Esta práctica sistemática de los diversos cuerpos policiales españoles nos presenta un método de utilización de un motivo como forma comunicativa de un poder de Estado. Asimismo sintetiza algunos de los resultados del proyecto de investigación MOVEP (Los motivos visuales en la esfera pública. Producción y circulación de imágenes del poder en España, 2011-2017), CSO2017-88876-P, que tiene como objetivo analizar la recurrencia, producción y circulación de motivos específicos relacionados con la representación del poder en imágenes aparecidas en la prensa, medios digitales, cine y televisión.

The politics of renewable power in Spain

Government support for renewable power in Spain has varied over time. After fostering a boom in the first decade of the 2000s, public support dried up in the early 2010s before making a reappearance in the last several years. This paper details and explains the fluctuating political fortunes of renewable power in Spain. It argues that the recent revival of support for renewable power should no come as no surprise. Rather, it reflects a reassertion of the underlying imperatives that prompted support by governments of different parties in previous years. Nevertheless, the role of government in promoting renewable power is now undergoing a fundamental change, as it shifts from directly subsidizing new generating capacity to removing barriers that might discourage private investment and facilitating the operation of market forces.

Short-term effects of PV integration on global welfare and CO2 emissions. An application to the Iberian electricity market

This work analyses the effect on the daily electricity market of the authorisation of 3909 MW of new photovoltaic (PV) power in Spain in 2017 –as a contribution to the EU environmental objectives for 2030. To estimate the impact of this additional offer, we use real data from the supply and demand curves of the Iberian (Spain and Portugal) daily electricity market. Our data is available for all the hours of the full year between August 1, 2016 and July 31, 2017. In this period, more than 800 agents have participated in the market, generating more than 15 million operations. In order to calculate the new supply function for each hour, the hourly production of these new facilities is added to the offer at zero price, since their marginal costs are very close to zero and correspond to the offers that are being made by the current PV bidders. By using static and dynamic (multilevel) analyses, the variations of prices, quantities, emissions and surpluses of buyers and sellers are calculated. As the economic theory foresees, the new supply curve causes a decrease in average prices of 2.7 €/MWh in daylight hours (or 1.5€/MWh considering all the hours of the year), and an 8% reduction in the income of the PV plants currently in operation (incumbents). The substitution of combined cycle energy (the technology expulsed) by PV energy brings about a saving of 2.2 million Mt of CO2 eq. In terms of economic welfare, the incorporation of PV power produces an increase in the total surplus of about 300 M€ each year.

Urban Landscapes of Power in the Iberian Peninsula from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages (ULP.PILAEMA Project)

Debates surrounding late antique societies have attracted renewed interest from an archaeological perspective. Attention given to this period between the fifth and the eighth centuries reflects present-day issues closely related to urban landscapes and long-term change in the human occupation of space. The aim of the ULP.PILAEMA Project is to examine the interaction of new elites on urban life between the late Roman and early Middle Ages through the study of the main components of townscape. The project is articulated around a series of key Spanish case studies selected on the basis of the quality of their architecture and topography and the reconstructions that this evidence facilitates for late antiquity. Taken together, the examples chosen present a coherent and up-to-date perspective of how cities transformed as symbolic places. The goal of the project is to explore ways in which topographies of governance were configured and to identify urban patterns to compare with other places and regions in Western Europe. Understanding the rise of bishoprics, monasteries and official buildings and their built environment as an expression of social interactions has allowed us to explain the origins and development of early medieval centres of power in Spain.

Laurent BinetCivilizations

complacent) girl, Aspirin takes her to his place so he can figure out to whom he should send her the next morning. His decision to bring Alyona into his apartment changes his life dramatically. Things move quickly, with strange men coming to the apartment ostensibly to take Alyona “back” to where she came from, Alyona explaining that she is actually from another dimension or plane of existence, and the subtle transformation of the girl’s teddy bear from an innocent toy to a bloodthirsty creature that will rip to shreds anyone who threatens her. Aspirin solicits advice on what to do with her, but life goes on—his work at the nightclub , his radio show, his frequent hookups, and his insecurities leave Aspirin unable to make a decision to drop Alyona off at a juvenile facility or a shelter. Not only does Alyona ask to stay with Aspirin, but that mysterious man who came by has somehow spontaneously generated a birth certificate for the girl that lists the DJ as her father. Thus begins Aspirin’s and our own selfdoubt : Is Aspirin actually her father? Is the girl psychologically disturbed and trying to pull off some kind of scam? Or is she some sort of nonhuman creature truly in search of her brother who, like a fallen angel, has fled perfection/paradise in order to live in a world that allows for (musical) creation? Woven throughout the plot is a question about music’s larger purpose: Is it something one should manipulate in order to create varying atmospheres and emotional registers (as Aspirin does), or is it something one creates and then expels out into the world (as Alyona does with her violin)? The Dyachenkos refuse to answer these questions, of course, leaving the reader thinking about the novel long after turning the last page. As in Vita Nostra, the authors are able to create in Daughter from the Dark a moment of delicious uncertainty—an almost physical sensation of shock and doubt in the reader. Rarely does a book harbor such power. Rachel S. Cordasco Madison, Wisconsin Laurent Binet Civilizations Paris. Grasset. 2019. 377 pages. LAURENT BINET’S last novel, La septième fonction du langage (2015), was an elaborate, cleverly constructed satire of the postmodernist period and many of its writers (see WLT, May 2016, 82). His new novel is more ambitious and wide-ranging, since it rewrites much of the history of Western civilization. In this alternate history, it is the Inca and Aztec empires that invade and colonize Europe. The first part of this novel, inspired by Icelandic sagas, gives new meanings and consequences to the unsuccessful attempts at colonization by Vikings. The second part is largely a parody of Christopher Columbus’s journal. It chronicles the utter failure of his voyage and his death in obscurity. In the third and longest part, a civil war within the Inca Empire forces a group of survivors to flee. Led by Prince Atahualpa, they eventually make their way to the island where Columbus’s boats remain, empty and forgotten. They repair the boats and set sail for a new land. Their voyage of discovery leads them to Lisbon, where they arrive shortly after the 1531 earthquake . As they learn more about Portugal, Spain, and the rest of Europe, the Incas gradually take advantage of the religious and national divisions of what is to them the New World. Atahualpa ’s rise to power in Spain and other parts of Europe is complicated by the arrival of Aztec conquerors in France and England. Both groups of colonizers profit from the new transatlantic trade routes that are created after their conquests. The last part of Binet’s novel provides an alternate biography of Cervantes, who meets Montaigne before being shipped off to Mexico. Binet combines fictional characters and well-known historical figures, whose destinies are radically changed by the novel’s civilizational reversal of fortune. Throughout the narrative, the author indulges in revised versions of historical references: an Inca rewriting of Martin Luther’s ninetyfive theses, an Aztec pyramid (and human sacrifices) in the courtyard of the Louvre, the Inca sun god bringing tolerance and peace to regions previously devastated by...

Solar Energy Production for a Decarbonization Scenario in Spain

Solar energy is one of the most promising sources of energy that could be used to address distributed supply problems. Global warming and decarbonization are significant global concerns, particularly for countries that are not fossil fuel providers. This paper presents a study focused on Spain, a country with a favorable location with respect to horizontal irradiance. The study addresses the future energy demand forecast and how photovoltaic energy could supply an important part of electricity needs. Our approach focuses on two analyses. First, several traditional statistical techniques are discussed in order to obtain a model that best suits Spanish energy demand forecasts for the future years. Different algorithms are compared in order to determine which is the most appropriate for the considered purpose. Second, the evolution of solar photovoltaic technology in Spain is analyzed. The latitude of Spanish cities makes them suitable for utilizing this kind of technology. In this sense, seasonal and monthly trends are identified with high levels of detail, considering a large historical dataset. The increase of the capacity of electricity generation based on this procedure is evaluated. Finally, a discussion about matching electricity demand forecasts and photovoltaic production is offered. Considering the selected model for the photovoltaic power of Spain, from 5 to 42 GW in 2030, the Spanish production is determined as 81 TWh. The obtained results suggest that a possible energy transition is feasible. However, some challenges have to be considered, such us the design of an effective strategy to store excess energy produced when generation is higher than electricity demand. In this way, the electrical distribution system could be fed by the stored energy when solar energy production is deficient.

Power and glory: The Catholic church still wields enormous power in Spain despite the population becoming more secular

Power and glory: The Catholic church still wields enormous power in Spain despite the population becoming more secular

Space, Rurality and Power in Spain: The Agrarian Ideology of Vizconde Eza (1873-1945)

Space, Rurality and Power in Spain: The Agrarian Ideology of Vizconde Eza (1873-1945)

La reglamentación ceremonial y protocolar del poder judicial en España

El poder judicial en España ha permanecido durante muchos años de espaldas a la sociedad. Ese distanciamiento ha pasado factura hasta el punto de abrir una enorme brecha entre la misma y la sociedad en la que se encuadra. Conscientes de que ello no es bueno, sus órganos de gobierno han procedido a utilizar las modernas técnicas de marketing para lograr ser conocidos por aquellos a los que van dirigidos.__________________________________The judicial power in Spain has remained for many years with its back to society. That estrangement has taken its toll to the point of opening a huge gap between it and the society in which it fits. Aware that this is not good, their governing bodies have proceeded to use modern marketing techniques to achieve to be known by those to whom they are directed.