Experts at the University are calling for partnership academia, businesses, and regulators to address the challenge the energy transition

The University of Navarra hosted the 21st congress the association for Economics (AEEE), an event where academics, regulators, and companies discussed sustainable development . During the meeting, participants agreement the need for partnership academia, industry, and regulators to address the sector’s challenges.

The opening ceremony took place this Thursday, May 28, and was attended by prominent figures from the political, academic, and business sectors, including Mikel Irujo, the Navarre Government’s Minister of Industry, Ecological and Digital Transition; the vice-rectors of the University of Navarra and the Public University of Navarra, Raúl Antón and Martin Larraza Kintana, respectively; Juan Peña, director Corporate Business and Institutional Relations at group ; and Eduardo Ryan, Iberdrola’s representative in Navarra and La Rioja.

As Regional Minister Mikel Irujo noted in his opening remarks, the main challenges currently facing the region are ensuring a network that distributes electricity effectively—a proposal to this effect is already proposal approval—and securing a stable energy price so as not to be subject to current geopolitical fluctuations

In his remarks, Irujo lamented that“Navarre’s current energy system is dirty, inefficient, and expensive,”but he remained optimistic, stating that by 2030, 50% of the energy supplied in Navarre could come from renewable sources, thanks to increased capacity and the approval of new renewable energy plants. 

Under the degree scroll “Sustainabledevelopment : Socioeconomic, Environmental, and Geopolitical Implications, degree scroll the congress what is known asthe “energy trilemma”—that is, the need to balance environmental sustainability, energy security, and affordability. Coordinated by the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS), research center Humanities Social Sciences, and with the support of the School of Science and Business and the Public University of Navarra, the event was sponsored by Iberdrola, Enhol, network , as well as the Repsol Foundation’sChair Energy Transitionat the University of Navarra.

Dialogue for Future manager
For their part, academic leaders have emphasized the importance of partnership institutional dialogue. Martin Larraza, Vice President research the Public University of Navarra, stated that this congress an example of partnership the two major institutions of Education in Navarra: “Through partnership and must address these complex issues and demonstrate the commitment of both institutions to the Navarra community.” Raúl Antón, Vice President Faculty at the University of Navarra, highlighted the university as the ideal setting for seeking shared solutions with a long-term perspectiveand for inspiring sustainable business and entrepreneurial models aimed at the common good.

Jaime García del Barrio, director ICS, also emphasized the importance of forging partnerships between academia, business government authorities to promote fruitful dialogue, build bridges between reference letter organizations reference letter thus address energy challenges in a more creative, efficient, and humane manner.
 

's Energy Transition According to Antonio Moreno, Dean the School of Economics, the challenge achieving a truly manager transition manager to connect energy with communities—“geopolitics with families struggling to pay their electricity bills.” In this regard, he considered the dialogue called for by his colleagues core topic a core topic factor core topic resolving these challenges. Along these lines, Tomás Gómez-Acebo, director the Chair in Energy Transition at the University of Navarra, added that the energy transition requires public support, as the market alone is not capable of driving change.

“Access to energy makes the entire economy possible,” said Raúl Bajo, congress coordinator congress researcher ICS. Without a strong energy sector, other economic activities could not thrive, making core topic development . This underscores the importance of the energy transition in industry.

In an effort to understand and analyze the energy challenge, Eduardo Ryan, Iberdrola’s representative in Navarre and La Rioja, highlighted the importance of the energy transition, power grids, and the study ofenergy economics. He noted that Economics must take into account security of supply, cost, and environmental, social, and economic sustainability. “If these factors are not taken into account, it affects the country’s Economics competitiveness,” he warned.

Likewise, Juan Peña, director Corporate Business and Institutional Relations at group , emphasized that“the challenge is no challenge to generate renewable energy but to create a system capable of consuming it, managing it, and adding value to it.” According to network , Spain had an installed renewable energy capacity of 95.5 GW at the end of 2025. However, peak demand was only 40 GW, meaning the system has the capacity to generate three times what is consumed. As a result of the lack of demand, Peña lamented that clean energy is curtailed or sold at zero cost, and the model sustainability and investment.

For his part, Hugo Lucas, director the AEEE, explained that we are facing a profound transformation of energy systems, with changes in consumption, in Structures from large power plants to Structures —and with consumers beginning to take a proactive role, for example, by installing solar panels for their own use. “Every wind turbine, every solar panel, and every electrolyzer is not just energy infrastructure: they are value chains, industrial fabric, and productive capacity,” he stated.