The long processing of renewable projects in the Valencian Community has been a problem that for years has blocked the start-up of plants, thus slowing down the region’s green transition. So much so that at this moment there is a plug of 400 unresolved files and there are only 2,406.8 MW installed from renewable sources, despite the fact that the objective is to reach 10,000 MW in 2030. In this way, autonomy is within reach. the bottom of Spain in terms of deployment of this type of energy and only contributes 3% of the renewable power installed throughout the country.
A situation that has led the sector to sound the alarm on several occasions and the Consell to make a move. Thus, this same week, the Generalitat Valenciana approved the ‘Simplify’ decree-law, which eliminates obstacles and duplications for promoters, which, according to experts, will allow, on average, the processing of a file to take about 18 months. A more than reasonable period that companies value, and even more so taking into account that there are initiatives that take up to five years to wait. A rule that the sector celebrated like May water and that it hopes will help reverse the current panorama.
Precisely, the standard was approved on the same day that the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF) held a conference in Valencia to address the challenges of the future. An appointment in which the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, participated, who advanced the approval of the decree, assuming that in recent years “a lot of time has been lost” and now the Comunitat wants to “promote change” on the path towards decarbonization.
“We hope and trust that as a result of this decree there will be a before and after in the Valencian Community,” says José Donoso, general director of UNEF, who admits that the autonomy is lagging behind in terms of installed power compared to other autonomies and ” “it cannot be left behind in decarbonization.” Valencia Plaza meets with Donoso, the same day that the decree was approved by the Consell, but before knowing the details of the new rule.
-The Valencian Community is behind Spain in terms of the deployment of renewables. In his opinion, what has gone wrong?
-We are coming from a few years in which the Administration has not understood the importance that renewables have for our country, neither from the point of view of biodiversity, nor from that of the climate emergency, nor from the economic opportunity. . Everyone has access to our technology. In Germany a photovoltaic plant produces between 850-900 hours, while in the Valencian Community we are talking about 2,000 hours. In addition, we have land for economies of scale and that means that 1 kilowatt/hour in Spain costs half that in Germany. That is a competitive advantage for industrial companies that want to settle in the country. We see it with projects like Sagunto – the PowerCo gigafactory – or with data centers. We cannot miss this opportunity. It is a historical responsibility, but the Administration has not always understood this.
What we try every day is for companies to do things as best as possible. And that they do it in an excellent way, in contact with the territory, fleeing from the formulas of expropriations and doing everything possible to renaturalize the territories, but we need that this historical responsibility corresponds with a responsibility of the Administration to move forward together.
-Has there been a lack of political will then?
-To be fair, I think there has been a situation of blockage because there were people in the previous period who did have political will, but others who had rather the opposite: not allowing the development of renewables. This situation generated a blockage and, in the end, what it did was paralyze plants. We have seen projects denied for absolutely absurd reasons, which had nothing to do with reality.
-Has that rejection changed with the new Consell of Carlos Mazón?
-According to the words of President Mazón, what is clearly seen is an economic opportunity. That is what companies say and, in fact, in Sagunto they have said it very clearly: if there is no photovoltaic plant, there is no industry. It is an example that represents the whole. Although not all projects have an associated plant, but they are all looking for that: the cheap energy that solar produces. There is an opportunity there and we want to believe that there will be a change with the simplification decree and that there will be a significant change. That does not mean that all projects are approved, but rather those that comply.
-Precisely this simplification decree eliminates obstacles to expedite the files. Do you think it will be effective?
-Let us hope and trust that as a result of this decree there will be a before and after and the process will begin, after the delay with respect to other autonomies. Administrative simplification is needed, but also political will to support those projects that meet the requirements, have an adequate EIS, consensus in the territory and municipal support. These projects must be expedited. The Valencian Community is a consumption center and cannot be left behind in the commitment to decarbonization, nor lose the competitive advantage that our country has in photovoltaic energy.
-With the new decree, will it be possible to reach the 10,000 MW that the Community has set to achieve in 2030 given the accumulated delay?
-It will depend on the will of the Consell. Our technology has a great advantage and that is the speed in terms of its deployment. We do not need large infrastructures, only the time of administrative processing and in a year they can be installed. The question is more directed to the Consell: Will it approve 10,000 MW in this period until 2030? If you approve them, they will be built. We are in 2024, so we would need to go at a rate of 2,500 MW per year.
-Was the situation in the Valencian Community known in Spain? Have there been companies that you know that have not come to the region because of the obstacles?
-Yes of course. I even know of projects that have moved to Castilla-La Mancha because they are on the border, but have been connected to substations in Valencia, which was considered a very difficult area and complicated to obtain authorization. Furthermore, many companies have discarded it from the start and others have been there for years. We believe that if an adequate atmosphere is created and with an Administration that wants to move forward and adequately analyze the projects, these companies will return.
-One of the main debates is the impact of photovoltaic parks on biodiversity and the landscape. How do you achieve a balance?
-That is an issue that has worried us from the beginning. According to our calculations, and now the Ministry has agreed with us, to build everything contemplated in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) we need 0.2% of the agricultural territory in Spain. That is if everything was done on agricultural land. It is an insignificant amount. Therefore, it is false when we want to contrast photovoltaic and agriculture. Unfortunately, in our country more agricultural land remains uncultivated than we need to make photovoltaic plants, but we have always been clear about our responsibility for the territory.
In fact, before the ‘boom’ began, we organized a group of environmental experts to see how to design a plant so that it would not be a problem for biodiversity, but rather an opportunity. We start from an intuition and that is that a plant is located on land in which for 30 years human activity will be reduced. We already saw this with covid and when human nature is reduced… We even saw wild boars in Moncloa in Madrid. Therefore, we defined what that plant should be like: no use of pesticides, herbicides, cement or concrete, so that after 30 years that land will be better. Also, we implement measures to promote renaturation with wetlands, insect hotels or nest boxes. And we see every day how they become authentic refuge areas.
-So, what do you attribute this social rejection that exists?
-It is a mix between economic interest and ignorance. What we find in many cases are competing economic interests for the use of the land. For example, large pig farms need land to deposit slurry, but they do not go with the banner. There are also hunters, there are tourist interests… They are all legitimate, but normally they are not fair.
-But it is also true that there have been projects that have been planned in sensitive areas or on cultivated land.
-That is why our first responsibility is to make companies do things well. Not all of them do it, but what cannot be done is to take the particularity for the whole. For this reason, we have obtained our certificate of excellence for those plants that comply with everything we say, both from the point of view of socioeconomic integration and landscape. In any case, in cultivated land such as vineyards, if it is the free will of the owner of the land, we are in a free market and it must be respected. For example, in La Sagra, in Toledo, there was a conflict, but by talking, people understood each other and an agreement was reached. There was a man who wanted to rent his vineyard land, but the cooperative was opposed and the company financed the cooperative as a gesture and the man of the land promised to invest the income from the plant in cultivating twice as many vineyards as he had before. Solutions can always be found.
-What average plant size makes the most sense in a region like Valencia?
-With the question of size I assure you that I have given it many thoughts and it is not easy. It is very multifaceted because, for example, that renaturation that we mentioned, the larger the installation, the more possibility for the animals and it will have a greater effect than a small plant. It is not such a simple debate with a magic number. I have given it many thoughts and we have to see case by case, its impact and where it is installed.
On the other hand, self-consumption is fundamental and so are energy communities. In Valencia they are growing a lot because there is a long tradition of cooperativism. We believe that it is a path and that energy communities have a long way to go in this region.
-What consequences can the Community have if it does not achieve its energy sovereignty?
-We see them every day with the effects of climate change, which have been 10 years ahead of us. We were thinking about them for the next decade, but they are already here. However, people do not fully see a reality that is before their eyes. And a few months ago, in the middle of winter, there was drought and restrictions in Catalonia and in many towns in Spain and there will be more and more. Inaction is not an alternative. History has given us a green swan. Spain has never had a competitive advantage in the energy factor in an industrial revolution because we have coal, bad and expensive; oil not even for a lighter; and gas for two cylinders. On the other hand, now it turns out that we have it and we cannot not act because we will lose the economic competitive advantage and, due to personal interests, we cannot put this at risk.
-What economic impact does the renewable industry generate in Spain?
-Today, there are more than 225,000 direct and indirect jobs in employment. At the local level, we are very intensive in construction because it takes between 300-500 people to build a plant, workers who are not fired later because they normally go to build another one. If we compare, for example, with a dry land we produce four times more employment than a dry land plant.
In addition, a town council receives income, normally 10,000 euros per MW/year; Those who rent receive between 1,500 and 2,000 euros, while the PAC gave them between 100 and 400 euros. All that income generates an indirect effect and promotes more wealth in the populations. It is an opportunity for places where history has not passed. Many times we talk about ‘Emptied Spain’ and now they have an opportunity and they must take advantage of it well and intelligently. Many times, the opposition comes from the ‘dominguero’, from those who spend the weekend in those municipalities and talk about the ‘landscape’, when the landscape has always been altered during the history of humanity. We propose that to have less impact our plants be surrounded by plant walls, but in the end what you have to look at is the opportunity cost.
-One of the main challenges for the future is storage. At what point is your regulation? What other aspects should Spain influence?
-The sector currently has three country challenges. The first is social acceptance and that people understand that we are in a guaranteeing state. The projects are analyzed and those that are carried out are in the right place and are not a threat to agriculture. The second is that of electrification. The decarbonization of the electricity sector has been a success, but that of the rest of industrial consumption is very slow. We need to move forward in replacing fossil fuels with electrical energy. It is complex and difficult, but we must move forward.
Finally, the third challenge is precisely storage, in which work must be done to extend those cheap hours of solar energy further to provide guarantees to consumers and reduce the consumption of combined cycles. We need a regulatory framework because at this moment it does not exist and it is urgent. Also a remuneration framework with auctions.
