EHN and the Genesis of the Spanish Renewable Energy Sector (1989-2004): A Research Agenda

Joseba De la Torre () and Mar Rubio-Varas ()
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Joseba De la Torre: Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics (INARBE). Departamento de Economía. Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA). Pamplona, 31006 (Spain)
Mar Rubio-Varas: Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics (INARBE). Departamento de Economía. Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA). Pamplona, 31006 (Spain)

No 2605, Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) from Asociación Española de Historia Económica

Abstract: Navarre, a small region on Europe's periphery, became Europe's third largest wind market by the late 1990s, led by a public-private firm: Energía Hidroeléctrica de Navarra (EHN). This paper reconstructs the origins of that transformation using primary and secondary sources. We argue that EHN succeeded in establishing the viable commercial model in renewable energy that was later imitated and replicated. We examine three keys to this trajectory: a regional industrial policy sustained for almost three decades beyond electoral cycles; the personal leadership of those who drove and directed the project; and EHN's own business design as a mixed public-private firm that acted as the catalyst for an entire industrial ecosystem. The interaction and cohesion of these elements —institutional framework, leadership, business fabric, and social consensus— form the combination that explains Navarre's trajectory, whose in-depth study this paper does not close but rather opens as a research agenda.

Keywords: Wind energy; Navarre; Business history; Regional industrial policy; Industrial cluster (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N74 N84 Q42 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2026-09
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:2605

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