Strategies of international financial capitalism and the integration of the Spanish electricity system: the Levantine coast

Among the national varieties of investment employed in European electricity development, Spanish studies have focused on the strategies of large electricity companies based in mature electricity markets, such as Catalonia or Madrid, but only in traditional electricity systems, such as the Levantine. The purpose of this article is to answer the following question: What impact did foreign investment have on the configuration of the Levantine/Spanish electricity systems during the interwar period? The article concludes that, compared to the theoretical model of local monopolies applied generically to the Spanish case, the second wave of international investment not only accelerated the process of integration of the Levantine electricity market, but had a significant impact, due to the defensive attitude of the Spanish electricity-financial lobby, on the dynamics (competitive/oligopolistic) of regional electricity systems in Spain.