Welcome to the 3rd edition of DEXMA Partner Spotlight! This month we are highlighting Energy Traders Consulting, a Spanish ESCO delivering energy consulting services and building automation solutions.
We spoke with CEO Gabriel Viñegla García who is based in Badajoz, Spain.
Here are some of the best bits of our conversation:
First things first, we want to congratulate Energy Traders Consulting on joining the DEXMA Partner Community a few months ago!
What made you decide to become a DEXMA partner in the first place?
Thank you very much! I decided for several reasons. The main ones are for the support team, always ready to solve our doubts and problems, for the continuous development of the technology that you do from the different departments, especially R&D, and for the services you provide to the Partner Community and consequently to our customers.
What are top 3 “pain points” experienced by your clients? What are their main worries when it comes to energy management?
Whenever we start working with a company, we find the following “pains” as you rightly say:
- “Am I really going to pay less?”
- “What’s the use of energy monitoring?”
- “What performance can I get from this tool you are offing me?”
With regard to energy, what concerns us most is the constant fluctuation of the market, to be able to help our customers understand how the electricity market works and to adapt the most beneficial actions and proposals to each customer’s profile.
How did DEXMA Platform help your clients overcome these obstacles?
DEXMA helps us to control our clients’ energy consumption, analyse the energy data and through this analysis make proposals for improvement in our clients’ use and management of energy. We say that having cheap kWs is great, but you also need to know how to consume those kWs in an optimal way.
Where is Energy Traders Consulting this year? What can we expect from your business in 2017 in terms of business growth goals?
The past year has really been our company’s birth. We have started out as a consolidated company managing more than 130 GW in our portfolio of 32 clients nationwide, with a focus on consulting and engineering.
For 2017 we have several international projects lined up: 2 in Mexico and the opening of our offices in Morocco. At the end of February 2017, we’ll have started a project at the national level with a company with 150 delegations and 15 signed projects.
Tell us 3 energy trends that you think will transform our industry in the coming years. For which are you most excited, and why?
Here are my top 3:
- The batteries of electrical energy storage
- The use and self-consumption of renewable energies and
- The awareness of both European and Spanish administrations on energy efficiency.
We all really look forward to all 3! If I had to choose the most exciting one, it would probably be the raised awareness of the administrations on energy efficiency. We are specialists in this and I firmly believe that when a company is efficient it becomes a competitive company, something that in this globalised world is a fundamental pillar for entrepreneurial survival.
The European Union recently released its Winter Package with new policy objectives for energy efficiency and renewables. How will these directives affect Spanish energy policy, which until now has resisted the transition to clean energy?
Although it’s better late than never, Spanish energy policy will finally have to enter the ring of renewable energy and make a radical change in national energy policies, especially when it comes to electricity. As I say it will be rather late, but we cannot continue to raise barriers against something that in a country like ours, with so many natural resources! We are beating around the bush of an issue that is so essential.
Are certain sectors of the Spanish economy more receptive to energy management than others?
After several years in this business, I would say that generally, all sectors are interested in the subject of energy management. Little by little, companies are becoming aware of the need to control all energy-related aspects in order to reduce unnecessary costs. But probably looking at our client profiles, the sectors most interested in energy management are the sectors of agriculture and second-degree cattle-raising (agrarian and livestock cooperatives).
What kind of changes are needed for Spain to become more competitive on the global energy market?
To be more competitive we have to professionalise our sector on the one hand, which is difficult due to an unfortunately high occurrence of fraudulent practice which creates a lot of distrust for end customers. On the other hand we must ease the regulations against self-consumption and use of renewable energy as soon as possible.
Thank you so much for your time, Gabriel! We are so excited to help you bring the best data-driven energy management to your clients in 2017.
You can follow Energy Traders Consulting on Facebook here.