About Us
The Spanish Association for Energy Economics (AEEE) is a non-profit organization funded in Vigo, Spain, the 29th of April 2004 by several people from different scientific fields who are related with Energy Economics. It was legally registered in the National Associations Registry as a national association and it is recognized for tax purposes as a “non-profit organization” and as an “autonomous social organization”.
The Association has three types of memberships: individual, institutional and sponsors. The fees include the affiliation to the International Association for Energy Economics and consequently an annual subscription to the IAEE publications. If you want to join the AEEE, you can do so online here. If you would like to become an institutional member or a sponsor, please contact us by e-mail: aeee@aeee.es.
The Association is managed by a Directive Board, elected for periods of four years.
Main data of the AEEE:
Spanish Association for Energy Economics.
Tax-Payer number: G36937779. National Associations Registry number: 172697, 1st Group, 1st Section
Post Office Box 25035.
28080 Madrid, Spain.
E-mail: aeee@aeee.es


Directive Board
Kepa Solaun Martínez
María Paz Espinosa
Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera Cárdenas
Mikel González-Eguino
María San Salvador del Valle González
Mª Dolores Furió
Amaia de Ayala
Cristina Pizarro-Irizar
Pablo Arocena Garro
Miguel Ángel Muñoz Rodríguez
Arcadio Gutiérrez Zapico
Pablo Dueñas Martínez
Ismael Bahillo Santoyo
Álvaro López-Peña
Bianca Cid
Luis Villafruela Arranz
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PRESIDENT
Kepa Solaun Martínez
PhD in Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid, Master’s Dregree in Legal, Economic and Social Organization of the Environment from the EOI Business School, Master’s Degree in Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility from the Jaume I University and the National University of Distance Education (UNED), Degree in Philosophy from the UNED and Degree in Economic Law from the University of Deusto.
Since March 2004, Kepa is founder and Managing Partner of Factor Group (Factor CO2). The group has become one of the leading firms specializing in climate change, renewable energy, environmental commodities and sustainability, with offices in Spain (Bilbao, Madrid), Italy (Milan), Germany (Berlin), Ecuador (Quito) and Mexico (Mexico City). Throughout his career, he has had the opportunity to lead more than 300 energy and climate change projects in more than forty countries for international organizations, such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations, or the Green Climate Fund, as well as for national and international private companies.
In the academic field, Kepa has been an associate professor of Environmental Economics at the University of Navarra for eleven years, as well as professor of several postgraduate courses at the EOI Business School. He was also a professor at the University of Deusto for seven years.
He has several publications in prestigious journals such as Renewable Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Energies, DYNA or Ekonomiaz, but he has also developed publications on energy and climate change for organizations such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Spanish Office of Climate Change or the Complutense Institute for International Studies.
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ACADEMIC VICE PRESIDENT
María Paz Espinosa
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INSTITUTIONAL VICE PRESIDENT
Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera Cárdenas
Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera holds Ph.D in Applied Economics by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid graduating with honours “Cum Laude”. He has studied an MBA in International Political Economy at the University of Warwick (UK). He is Director of Energy Prospective of Iberdrola; he previously served as Director of Regulatory Prospective.
He is an expert in the energy, economy and environment fields. He teaches Energy Economics at several universities (Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija etc.), Director of the MBA in Energy Business at Enerclub and member of the board of “Economics for Energy”. His activity is focused on energy economy, renewable energy, energy efficiency and water economy. He has published several articles in national and international media regarding these issues. He is the author of the book – Water and Economy: Towards a rational management of a basic resource – and various chapters in treatises and handbooks on: environmental taxation, regulation of renewable energies, energy efficiency, climate change and energy social aspects.
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PARTICIPATION VICE PRESIDENT
Mikel González-Eguino
Mikel González-Eguino is a senior researcher at BC3 (Basque Centre for Climate Change) and associated professor at the University of the Basque Country. He has a PhD in Economics (2006, University of the Basque Country) and a degree in Engineering (2001, University of Deusto). He has been visiting scholar at Wageningen University (Netherlands) and Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico).
His main interests lie in the fields of energy and climate change economics. He is also interested in providing scientific support for decision making in the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy. His work has been published the leading journals in the field.
He has worked for Basque and Spanish institutions and also lead several scientific projects funded by the European Commission.
His doctoral thesis won him the Enrique Fuentes Quintana prize (FUNCAS, 2006).
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SECRETARY
María San Salvador del Valle González
She holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) with a specialization in renewable energies and sustainable development from the University of Aalto (Finland). Master’s Degree in Globalization and Development from the Hegoa Institute, Joint Institute of Studies on Development and International Cooperation of the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU).
Her professional experience is focused on the renewable energy and sustainability sector. She has a global perspective on the different actors and areas that play a role in the energy transition that is being addressed, based on her experience with private companies, multilateral agencies and the network of non-governmental organizations for development working on energy issues. She has participated in the development and implementation of renewable energy projects in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. She works as a senior energy consultant at Factor Group, an international group specialized in offering solutions in areas such as climate change, renewable energy, environmental commodities and sustainability.
In the field of research, her work has focused on the analysis of international energy justice, based on the Global Multi-Regional Input Output (GMRIO) methodology, energy footprint calculating method.
She has also been a member of the Board of Directors of Ingeniería Sin Fronteras.
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TREASURER
Mª Dolores Furió
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MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD
Amaia de Ayala
Amaia de Ayala holds an international Ph.D. in Environmental Economics (March 2014) with first class honours (she received the extraordinary PhD thesis award in social sciences for her thesis entitled “Economic Valuation of Landscapes Using Discrete Choice Experiments: Issues and Challenges”); a Master’s degree in Economic Analysis (2009); and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (2008) also with first class honours (she received the extraordinary B.A. award), all from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU).
Amaia has worked as Post-Doctoral researcher at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) from March 2014 to December 2017 in many national and international research projects.
At present, she is Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Economics I at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), where she teaches economics.
She is also Associate Researcher at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), where she is currently participating in different H2020 projects related to energy efficiency and energy transition from the consumer behaviour perspective.
Her research field focuses on applied economics (to environment, energy and health) for policy-guidance.
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MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD
Cristina Pizarro-Irizar
Cristina Pizarro-Irizar is currently lecturer at the University of the Basque Country and associate researcher at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (2017-). She holds a bachelor in Telecommunications engineering and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of the Basque Country. She has a Master degree in Finance (Colegio Universitario de Estudios Financieros) and a Master degree in Economics (University of the Basque Country).
She has also worked at Santander Bank (2008-2016), at the University of the Basque Country, as predoctoral researcher and teaching assistant (2011-2016); and at the Basque Centre for Climate Change, as postdoctoral researcher (2016-2017).
Her research focuses on the economics of renewable energy, mainly in the analysis of electricity markets and policies aimed at renewable energy support. She has published part of her research in journals specialized in energy issues, her work has been presented at national and international conferences and she has participated in research projects funded by public and private entities.
She won the Student Best Paper Award in the 8th Conference of the Spanish Association for Energy Economics in 2013.
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MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD
Pablo Arocena Garro
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MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD
Miguel Ángel Muñoz Rodríguez
Head of the Climate Policies and Alliances in the Chairman’s Area at Iberdrola since 2015. From 2008 to 2014 he was part of the Direction of Regulatory Affairs at Iberdrola, coordinating the area of energy policy and studies. Until 2008 he was Technical Advisor on energy and environment at the Economic Bureau of the Spanish Prime Minister.
He holds a B.Sc. (Honours) Degree in Economics, an MSc in Economic Analysis and Financial Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid and an MBA in Management of Energy Industries by UAN.
He is a member of national and international working groups in leading institutions and alliances in the field of climate action (Spanish Green Growth Group, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, United Nations Global Compact, Corporate Leaders Group,…).
He has collaborated in institutional publications such as the Spanish Sustainable Development Strategy and the Economic Report of the President of the Government 2007 and 2008 and is the author of several publications on energy security, climate change and regulation of energy efficiency and renewable energies.
He combines his professional activity at Iberdrola with teaching and academic activity at the College of Europe, the Master’s Degree on International Affairs: Economics, Politics and Law (Universidad Pontificia Comillas) and the Master’s Degree on Energy Business (Club Español de la Energía).
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MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD
Arcadio Gutiérrez Zapico
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MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD
Pablo Dueñas Martínez
Pablo Duenas holds a Phd in Electrical Engineering from Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Currently, he is Postdoc Associate with the Massachusetss Institute of Technology (MIT) funded by the National Science Foundation.
His areas of interest include gas and electricity markets regulation, and analysis of their interdependencies to achieve the best coordination between them and improving their resilience to failures and attacks.
Since 2007, he has been involved in several consultancy projects for energy companies. Committee Member of the Young Professional and Students Chapter since its foundation and collaborator of the WPC Spanish Youth Committee and Young Energy Economists and Engineering Seminars community.
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MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD
Ismael Bahillo Santoyo
Ismael Bahillo holds a B.A. in Economics from Universidad de Valladolid and a master degree in Economics and Finance at CEMFI (Bank of Spain Foundation).
Mr Bahillo started his career as an Energy Analyst at NERA’s Madrid office in July 2000. Since he joined NERA, he specialized in regulatory, financial and strategic issues concerning gas and electricity markets in Spain and in other European countries. In the gas sector, he analyzed existing and proposed gas legislation; carried out in-depth analysis of tariff systems and access regimes in various European countries; designed the regulated remuneration mechanism for gas transmission, storage, and distribution companies for a European country, including the calculation of the WACC for regulated activities; and advised on the corresponding final and access tariffs. In the electricity sector, he worked on the design of marginal cost-based electricity tariffs for the peninsular electricity system. He also advised in themes of commercial and corporate strategy, including the valuation of distribution companies and the profitability of regulated activities.
In 2011, Ismael Bahillo joined the State Secretary of Energy within Spain’s Ministry of Industry, Tourism, and Trade as Advisor, responsible for the design and coordination of the regulation in the energy markets in Spain, with a special focus on the hydrocarbons sector.
In February 2012, he joined the former Comisión Nacional de Energía, CNE (National Energy Commission) as Deputy Director for Regulation.
At the end of 2013, the merger of various Regulatory Commissions in Spain resulted in the creation of the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, CNMC (National Markets and Competition Commission). Within this process, Ismael Bahillo was promoted to Deputy Director for Economic-Financial Regulation and Regulated Prices in the Energy Directorate at the CNMC.
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DIASPORA CHAPTER
Álvaro López-Peña
International consultant on energy policy, regulation, economics and markets, with a focus on the opportunities and challenges of the energy transition. Between 2013 and 2017 he worked at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA, based in Abu Dhabi) as a policy and market expert. He worked primarily on Latin American markets, and on the macroeconomic impacts of the energy transition (in collaboration with the IEA, the OECD and the German Government during its G20 Presidency).
He holds a degree in electrical engineering, a Masters in power sector economics and regulation, and a Ph.D. in energy policy, economics, sustainability and modelling, all of them earned at ICAI-Comillas University (Madrid, Spain) after a research visit to MIT. While doing his Masters and Ph.D. at Comillas University, he worked on applied research and consulting for power utilities and energy companies on issues related to energy planning, policy and strategy, and investment analysis.
He also helped to establish the Youth Chapter of the Spanish Association for Energy Economics and was a Board member at Energia Sin Fronteras.
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YOUTH CHAPTER
Bianca Cid
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MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD
Luis Villafruela Arranz
Manager of Regulation and Energy Transition Studies Area
Industrial engineer from UPM, specialty in Industrial Organization, specialization in Energy Technology from UPM and PDD from IESE.
He began working at Red Eléctrica de España in 1986, a company in which he has developed his entire professional career.
In the first part of the nineties, he provided his services as technical-economic advisor to the Ministry in the Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines, participating in the first developments for the liberalization of the electricity sector, as well as in the analysis of the merger operation and asset exchange in the electricity sector.
Subsequently and already from Red Eléctrica has participated very actively in regulatory developments in the electricity sector. He has also participated in different diversification operations carried out by Red Eléctrica abroad and in the field of telecommunications.
He is currently Manager of Regulation and Energy Transition Studies Area
He is a member of the EASE board, as well as a representative of REE in other national organizations and associations (ENERCLUB, FUNSEAM, …)