The Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF), the main photovoltaic energy business association in Spain, expresses its opposition to some of the changes in the reformulation of article 64 of Decree-Law 5/2024 modifying Law 6/2022 on Climate Change from the Canary Islands.
This article regulates social participation for renewable projects, on a mandatory basis, for projects from 2MW of power, in which 20% must be reserved for local participation, whether public or private. Although the Government and the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands are protected by the Renewable Directive 2023/2413, UNEF assures that the directive does not specify that they must be 2MW projects nor that the percentage has to be 20%.
Thus, the sector association defends before the island Government that the integration of local participation in solar projects must be carried out appropriately so as not to become a barrier that could put the development and energy transition of the Islands at risk.
UNEF has proposed to the Canary Islands Government to “eliminate article 64 of Decree Law 5/2024 or, failing that, introduce a transitional provision that exempts it from compliance until an ad-hoc and specific regulation of the criteria and requirements for “local participation in renewable energy projects.” This has been stated by Rafael Benjumea, president of UNEF,
which insists on the elimination or modification of the fourth point of article 64 and suggests that the 2MW limit be extended to 5MW projects, in line with other similar regulations such as the Balearic or Catalan ones.
Furthermore, they argue that 20% of the reserved participation is excessive, especially for those projects located in municipalities at risk of depopulation, since local participation not only implies the existence of a population, but also that said population has certain knowledge about the development and profitability of renewable energy projects. In the event of not being able to guarantee profitability as social capital, the citizen is assuming a risk that may not be compensated, which is why they consider that said limit should be limited to 10% and 2.5% in the case of the participation of individuals. public legal
Introducing this obligation for 2MW microprojects can put their economic viability at risk.
UNEF supports social participation as long as it is developed voluntarily and not obligatorily and requests that this article not apply to hybridizations of projects, since the obligation of social participation would introduce legal uncertainty to projects that already have a series of risks associated with them. an access point, a defined capital and guarantees.
It also requests that storage projects not be included in the category of “renewable generation projects” established in article 64 and which establishes the need for social participation in this type of projects and requests clarification on the technologies to which it would apply. the criterion of social participation.
Even so, UNEF also values ??and highlights positive points of the modification and considers it “very positive that part of the articles of Law 6/2022 is reformulated with the intention of addressing administrative efficiency measures that speed up the processing of energy transition projects and of climate adaptation. “This modification is especially relevant for the Canary Islands electrical system, to alleviate the obvious obsolescence of certain thermal equipment in said system that makes it necessary to urgently replace it and to be able to guarantee priority energy supply to avoid harm to the socioeconomic sectors of the islands,” in the words of Rafael Benjumea.
