As far as new legislation is concerned, in 2007 the Spanish government and the General Parliament adopted legislation governing energy, of which we have selected a part (further references can be found in the chapter on gas in Spain). It is the legislation of certain technical issues that modifies the payment scheme and includes the changes resulting from both European legislation and Royal Decree-Law 7/2006 in that it introduces modifications to the legal system for the activity of cogeneration.

It responds to the need for adopting Directive 2002/91/CE on the energy efficiency of buildings and to the adoption of the Technical Building Code. The RITE is a development measure of the action plan for the energy efficiency and saving strategy in Spain (2005-2007) and should also contribute to reaching the targets set by the Plan for the promotion of renewable energies (2000-2010).

In the last annual report, we commented on the fact that the Spanish government, in the Cabinet of Ministers of 31 March 2006, had adopted the Review 2005-2011 of the Plan for the gas and electricity sectors for the period 2002-2011. The said document is in keeping with the increase in the population that has taken place in Spain (higher than anticipated when the aforementioned review was made) and consequently adapts the actions in infrastructures planned for gas and electricity. It is important to point out that, despite the said increase in population, an energy efficiency target has been set that is higher than in the previous document. One important fact is that final energy consumption will grow at an accumulative annual rate of 1.6% in comparison with the 2.6% laid down in the aforementioned document, with a deadline of 2011. Therefore, final and primary energy consumptions follow a less pronounced trajectory (the estimated consumption of primary energy for 2016 is equivalent to the figure forecast for the year 2011 in the previous planning document).