Álvaro Ybarra Zavala The Legacy We Will Be, the Exciting Journey of Álvaro Ybarra Zavala
The renowned photographer has been capturing the industrial revolution that is redefining the models of energy generation, distribution, and consumption, as well as its protagonists for two years.
The renowned photographer has spent two years capturing the industrial revolution that redefines the models of energy generation, distribution, and consumption, as well as its protagonists
The first time Sonia Bielsa visited the Andorra (Teruel) thermal power plant, she was still a child. She delved into its depths, and when she entered the control room, she was amazed. It was filled with lights, switches, and various devices. From that moment, she wanted to do what her father, Francisco Javier Bielsa (Javi), did.
Sonia, who is now a maintenance supervisor of wind farms, represents the fourth generation of her family working at Endesa. Her great-grandfather started in the coal mines, her grandfather Paco followed the path, and she is the first to make the leap to renewables. She studied Technical Engineering in Industrial Design in Zaragoza, and in her first year of college, she interned at the technical office of the thermal power plant in the town where she grew up and still lives.
She would later become a shift deputy chief (the same position her father held) in the operations department, where she oversaw the supervision and control of the entire facility. "In July 2019," she explains, "my life changes." The coal plant closes, but a new job opportunity opens up for her: "I'm lucky to start working as an Operations and Maintenance supervisor at Endesa's new wind farms." Her work is now more dynamic, with more miles on the road and more contact with nature, precisely what this new way of producing electricity aims to preserve.
The Legacy We Will Be, a personal project by the renowned Spanish photographer Álvaro Ybarra Zavala, has been traveling the country since 2023 to immortalize the new industrial revolution emerging around the Energy Transition. A new revolution that not only responds to environmental challenges but also redefines the models of energy production, distribution, and consumption, placing people and the planet at the center of change through technological advancement.
"The Legacy We Will Be is a testament to today's generation's commitment to the future of tomorrow's generations. I conceive it as a journey that highlights the protagonists and those responsible for transforming the world we know, driving a modern and competitive economy. Behind every industrial revolution, there's an energy revolution, and the one happening right now before our eyes needs to be told," explains Álvaro Ybarra Zavala.
The photographer makes it clear that he has had absolute independence throughout the project: "Over these more than two years of journey, I've literally immersed myself in this crucial moment of our history with total freedom. There may be mistakes, but there are also many successes: the energy transition poses challenges, but it also offers a unique opportunity to radically transform our way of life."
The human factor
For the project's promoter, The Legacy We Will Be aims to create the necessary pause for society to ask questions to raise awareness about the importance of decarbonization. At the same time, it's a tribute to all the protagonists who make this change possible; a homage to their effort, commitment, and generosity toward future generations. "This project connects us with this crucial moment for our future, bringing society closer to the magnitude of this genuine revolution we're experiencing and putting a face to the great protagonists of this transformation," emphasizes the photographer to make it clear that the human factor has been one of the project's pillars.
Because any profound transformation in a society starts and ends at the same point, with people. They are the common denominator present in all significant changes, in all those leaps that the path to progress entails. Because, behind the name of an organization, a company, under the umbrella of a brand, that's what you find: with their successes and mistakes, men and women willing to move forward. And the energy transition is no exception. From planning the replacement of fossil fuel generation with new renewable projects to the operator responsible for disconnecting a coal-fired thermal power plant from the grid for the last time or connecting a state-of-the-art wind farm.
Moreover, in companies in strategic sectors like energy, essential for keeping the economy's wheel turning, personal stories become elevated to the category of family stories, because several generations decide to live these transformations on the front line. Sonia, Javi, Paco, Manuel, Elicio, Víctor, Miquel, and Marc are some of those names that explain better than any other document how the energy sector has changed in Spain. They are the notaries of what was done before and what is intended to be done now, of the sensitivities of the past and the new models more respectful of the natural environment.
From the past to the present and the future
This is precisely the essence of the project, which, through these testimonies, the narrative The Legacy We Will Be runs through the main milestones marking the extraordinary change we're experiencing, from the last days of coal-fired electricity generation, through the activity in one of the last nuclear power plants in Spain, to the new life of hydroelectric technology to provide robustness to the national energy system with a renewable source; the wind boom and compatibility with livestock and agricultural activities; the new solar plants, fully integrated into the environments; the sustainability projects associated with new renewable developments; the electrification of demand; or the new smart grids.
"It's a narrative that connects the past with the present and the future and seeks to raise questions that lay the foundations for finding the necessary consensus before the great challenges the future poses," says Álvaro Ybarra Zavala. And all this thanks to a complete universe of human stories that aims to substantiate and detail in a meticulous way to the viewer, the reader, the profound revolution we're immersed in. It also highlights the importance that the energy transition has for Spain, a country with outstanding potential in renewable energy. The abundance of sun, wind, and water in the territory can lead it to the forefront in terms of clean electricity generation and the decarbonization of industrial processes.
Green energy at a reasonable price is a vector to improve the competitiveness of companies already established in our country and to favor the attraction of new projects that catalyze the Spanish economy. Moreover, the fact that renewable developments are distributed, meaning they aren't concentrated in a few points of the national geography but spread across countless municipalities, helps this economic growth also impact rural areas, where the loss of opportunities has led to dramatic depopulation phenomena.
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