PRESIDENT

Hugo Lucas Porta

He holds a PhD on Energy Policy from the University of Lleida (UdL). He has a Master in Agronomy Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM). He pursued postgraduate studies in the energy sector at the Federal Polytechnic University of Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland.

He has 20 years of experience working in government and multilateral institutions: He was closely involved in the founding process of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) where as Director for Knowledge, Policy and Finance he led and coordinated its energy policy activities.

More recently, in the Spanish State Secretariat for Energy he worked in the design and implementation of key policy documents as: the Integrated National Plan for Energy and Climate 2030, the Decarbonisation Strategy 2050, the Roadmap for Green Hydrogen, the Roadmap of Marine Technologies or the new auction design for renewable electricity, to mention a few.

At present, as key expert in policies and the institutional and regulatory framework of the energy sector at EU Global Technical Assistance Facility for sustainable energy, he advise governments on the design and implementation of renewable energy policies, financial mechanisms and socio-economic impacts.

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.

SECRETARY

Manuel Pérez Bravo

As a predoctoral researcher at the Institute for Research in Technology (IIT) of the Pontifical University of Comillas in Madrid, Manuel primarily works in the areas of transportation sector modeling, energy systems, regulation, and energy economics. Simultaneously, he is pursuing his doctoral thesis at the same university, focusing on future transportation trends and the assessment and design of policies for a sustainable energy transition.

His previous professional experience in the transportation field includes periods in the technical maintenance department of the Lyon-Paris high-speed rail line, as well as several research periods at the State Key Laboratory of Traction Power in Chengdu, China. There, he contributed to the development of a magnetic levitation trains using superconductors (HTS MagLev).
He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Seville, as well as an Ingénieur Généraliste title from École Centrale de Lyon in France. Additionally, he has been a visiting researcher at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

ACADEMIC VICE PRESIDENT

Jacint Balaguer Coll

Professor of Economic Analysis at the Universitat Jaume I. PhD in Economics from the Universitat de València. He began his research career in international economics, focusing on the relationship between exchange rates and price formation, as well as studying various aspects of the tourism sector economy (JEL code-American Economic Association: L83), a field in which, according RePec Biblio, he is the author of the most relevant research work worldwide. His foray into energy economics was facilitated by his research experience in the relationship between exchange rates and price formation, which enabled him to propose a model to identify the evolution of the degree of integration of electricity markets between countries. Since then, he has focused most of his work on the analysis of competition policy in energy markets and the energy transition. He has published on these and other related issues, both as a single author and in collaboration, in journals such as Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Ecological Indicators, Small Business Economics, Economic Modelling, Journal of Policy Modelling, Papers in Regional Science, Applied Economics, The World Economy, International Journal of Law and Economics, Open Economies Review (Second Prize Award 2004), and Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice. Additionally, he regularly collaborates as a reviewer for various journals and has worked at PLOS One as an academic editor. He is also a reviewer of scientific projects for the Ministry of Science and Innovation and has served as an external expert in the actions of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Nottingham, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Université Lumière Lyon 2, University of Leicester, and more recently, at the Energy Policy Research Group at the University of Cambridge. He has led several research projects obtained in competitive calls and, since the end of 2023, has been the principal investigator of the project “Practical Approaches for Correcting Inefficiencies in the Fuel Market and Environmental Externalities in Transport and Industry,” funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

TREASURER / 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.

YOUTH SECTION

Antonio Rodríguez

Antonio is a predoctoral researcher at the Institute for Research in Technology (IIT) at Universidad Pontificia Comillas ICAI/ICADE in Madrid. His work focuses on energy regulation, economics, and energy systems modeling. His research lies at the intersection of energy, economics, and environment, particularly in robust decision-making for sustainable energy policy design and open-source energy modeling.

Antonio has been a visiting researcher at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (JGCRI-PNNL) of the U.S. Department of Energy and at Tufts University in Boston. He holds a degree in Industrial Technology Engineering from the University of Seville, where he also completed an international exchange at Luleå University of Technology (Sweden). Additionally, he obtained a Master’s degree in Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid.

His prior professional experience includes working at ICEX Spain Trade and Investment in Madrid and at Repsol, where he joined through the New Professionals Program and completed a Master’s in Energy Management. At Repsol, he worked for three years in the Economic Research Department and in the Economic Planning area.

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.

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.

MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD

Pablo Dueñas Martínez

Pablo Duenas is a research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative and a gas-electricity advisor for the Florence School of Regulation at the European University Institute.

His main area of research comprises economic and regulatory modeling and analysis related to the role of traditional and new generation technologies in shaping the energy systems of the future–in low-, mid- and high-income countries–within a carbon-constrained world. He has focused on topics such as liberalization and regulation of gas and electricity markets, energy security of supply and resiliency in decarbonizing economies, impact of distributed energy resources, analysis and regulation for universal energy access, and mathematical modeling of energy systems. During his career, he has worked with energy utilities, as well as government and regulatory agencies, on research projects and to provide advice aimed at improving operations and investments in energy systems worldwide.

Pablo obtained his BS in industrial engineering, MS in electric power systems, and PhD in electrical engineering at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain. He also received a BS in economics from the National Distance Education University in Madrid, Spain.

MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD

Arcadio Gutiérrez Zapico

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).

VOCAL

Bianca Cid

VOCAL

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 Global Factor. 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.