The Valencian Community is at the bottom, along with Catalonia, of the autonomies where the fewest renewable energy plants (photovoltaic and wind) have been installed in Spain in recent years. In fact, in the last five years of the Botànic, only 100 megawatts of solar were installed compared to almost 5,000 in Castilla-La Mancha or 6,000 in Extremadura, according to official data. A total of 419 megawatts of solar have been installed in the community, a figure that represents only 2.1% of the photovoltaic capacity in Spain, where there are parks with a power of 19,203 megawatts. At this time there are more than 400 pending files being processed in the Generalitat Valenciana, with a power of approximately 6,000 megawatts, awaiting administrative resolution. A serious situation that makes it impossible to meet the green energy objectives for the year 2030 if the procedures are not accelerated during this legislature.
Manuel Argüelles, general director of Energy and Mines of the Generalitat Valenciana, is forceful when assessing the situation: “this blockade completely distances us from the objectives set by the EU and is causing serious legal uncertainty.” And he announces that the work has already been completed to adapt the Valencian legislation “to make it faster and more agile, allowing us to unclog the processing of files and so that we are not the only autonomy that blocks them.” In the coming days, Carlos Mazón will present these changes that will affect laws and decrees to accelerate plants of less than 50 megawatts; When they exceed this figure, the authorization depends directly on the Government.
Specifically, the Law on Territorial Planning, Landscape and Urban Planning, LOTUP, and decrees 14/2020 and 1/2022 that regulate the processing of the installation of green energy plants in the Valencian Community have been modified. Among the changes made, the analysis of the reports from the General Directorate of Landscape will be improved, a situation that was imposed during the Botànic and that does not exist in any other autonomy as they are “binding”, and measures are adopted to speed up the processing bureaucratic. Currently, some files for just one megawatt have been waiting for authorization for four years.
The Valencian traffic jam has its roots in the way in which the Botànic, and especially the public officials of Compromís, understood the management of the authorization to install photovoltaic or wind plants in the Valencian territory. In August 2020, decree 14/2020 was approved, which required, among other conditions, that any project be audited by the General Directorate of Quality and Natural Environment, which was located in the Ministry of the Environment managed by Mireia Mollà, and therefore the general direction of Landscape, also in the hands of Compromís and within the Ministry of Mobility and Territory.
The problem was that the Paisaje reports were binding, which caused the blocking of most projects due to the contrary position of a sector of Més Compromís. Now they may no longer be binding but “common sense will be adopted”, according to sources from the Generalitat. In the past, the “binding” nature of these reports was questioned by the Generalitat’s Attorney’s Office. The situation was such that even Ximo Puig tried, at the end of 2022 (when there were 395 files requested and only about 40 had been processed) to resolve a blockade that has remained more or less with the same effects until now. Decree 1/2022 was even drafted to modify the Lotup but the changes, controlled by Compromís, continued to establish requirements for the installation in the municipalities that made it impossible to process the majority of files requested from the Generalitat.
Another problem of the Valencian administration is the lack of civil servants to help with the processing. The previous administration of the Botànic reached an agreement with the company Tragsa to have more staff, but this agreement ended days after the last regional elections and has not been renewed. Now, Energy is working on a new contract in order to expedite the files.
The new modifications to speed up processing respond, according to Manuel Argüelles, to the desire to “reduce bureaucracy and make the administration more agile.” The added problem to all this is the Valencian municipalities, given that there is a great disparity in willingness to accept photovoltaic or wind plants. Experts consulted estimate that, if the procedures are not streamlined, only large companies will have facilities. making it difficult for small investors to choose to set up renewable plants