This Tuesday, the Government of Aragon gave the green light to the new tax on regional renewables. The tax, already outlined in the previous legislature, was created with the objective that the environmental and visual impact caused by wind and photovoltaic energy has a positive impact on the territory. Once it comes into force, it is estimated that the regional coffers will receive around 30 million euros in 2024, with the aim of reaching 50 million starting next year.
The tax, which will be approved by the Cortes in the coming weeks, is similar to that already applied by other communities with strong implementation of renewables such as Galicia, Castilla-La Mancha, Cantabria or Castilla y León. For this reason, the Executive does not fear that it will have a deterrent effect, since the cost of the tax is “very little” for “the large companies” that manage these facilities.
“In Castilla y León and Galicia, no one has stopped investing,” said the Minister of the Treasury, Roberto Bermúdez de Castro, who has insisted that “fundamentally those developments that come here, set up the mills, set up the photovoltaic panels, and they leave nothing in the territory.”
Regarding wind installations, a variable part will be taxed depending on the height of the wind turbine and a fixed part depending on the power of the installation. In this way, smaller and grouped wind turbine parks will be taxed more, in order to encourage future developments to tend to have fewer and taller wind turbines.
The tax will be applied to wind farms that are disused or have already started operating, while new parks that are built will be exempt from the tax in the first year and will have a 50% exemption in the second.
In the case of photovoltaic energy, it will be taxed based on the hectares occupied and the power generated, while the power lines will be taxed based on the kilometers and the power.
Bermúdez de Castro explained that the bill, which must now be voted on in the Cortes, includes bonuses and 99% exemptions for those projects that “generate employment and wealth in the community.” Along these lines, he gave as examples the Nudo Mudéjar project that is being developed in Andorra (Teruel) after the closure of the thermal power plant or the renewable developments linked to investments such as those that Microsoft has planned for its data centers.
Those business developments that entail measures to establish population and alleviate the effect on the territory affected by the installation of renewables will also enjoy the same exception. As he noted, this is the case of those renewable companies that fully or partially finance the electricity costs of neighbors who have renewables installed in the vicinity of their municipalities.
In addition to all this, the PP-Vox regional government will reserve 50% of the income reserved for the affected municipalities, while the rest will remain in the single regional fund. “The objective is to use the money raised for the development of affected areas,” added the counselor, who also mentioned the intention to extend this decree to those localities affected by the construction of reservoirs and waterfalls in the past.
