Training and more IBI but not free electricity or more employment: what residents can get from the upcoming express renewable permit

The deployment of renewable energies enters a new phase, at an accelerated pace, with the update of an EU law that will force the creation of “acceleration zones” in which the procedures to authorize wind or photovoltaic projects cannot exceed one year. , or two in the case of offshore wind, with a direct green light if the administration has not acted within that period. The norm advises member states to promote “public acceptance” of projects, for which the acting Government contemplates compensations in the style of some that have already been granted and that show a great difference between what the town councils requested from the start. and what they have finally obtained from the promoters. Faced with the impossibility of having free electricity or 'placing' their neighbors to work in the parks, the municipalities end up accepting training courses, recovery of tourism or agriculture by the companies, indirect economic benefits and above all with the greatest “pinch” “, more income in the municipal coffers thanks to the Real Estate Tax (IBI).

These are some of the benefits that the local communities that a developer comes to in search of green approval to plant a wind and photovoltaic park are already having and that the acting Government wants to generalize now that a new EU law will create a path express for it. In a matter of a year and a half, European governments will have to locate so-called “renewable acceleration zones”, where projects will be “exempt from the obligation to carry out a specific environmental impact assessment”. Within these areas, authorization procedures may not be delayed more than 12 months, plus an extension of six in “extraordinary circumstances”; of two years – with a six-month extension – in offshore wind, and six months – plus three – when it comes to repowering wind farms or energy storage facilities.

The time to delimit these zones that the countries will have will be only six months when this express route occurs in specific areas such as those that already exist in Spain to install renewables, in places of low environmental sensitivity and for whose delimitation until now there has been no had taken into account the demands of local communities, beyond the allegations phases. “Until now, no one had taken into account the needs at an economic level,” they say in the sector, where they see it possible that the Ministry's plan is to “combine the mapping” of acceleration zones with a “menu of options” on how they can local communities be compensated.

In the coming months, land, inland water and marine areas will need to be located and what type or types of energy sources will be housed within them.. Artificial or already constructed surfaces such as building facades, parking lots or artificial reservoirs will have priority and the Natura 2000 Network and other protected spaces will be excluded, except when it comes to infrastructures such as the above.. They must be sufficiently extensive so that Spain can meet the renewable objective that this same standard updates and raises, up to 42% of renewables in the energy mix, or the objective that each country has set in its national plan.. In the case of Spain it is 48%. With this update of the Renewable Directive, the EU establishes an express procedure that in the last year has been in force exceptionally, to face the energy crisis.

Offsets and just transition

The third vice president, Teresa Ribera, was in favor of delimiting these “acceleration zones” a few days ago in places where there is agreement with local communities on the compensation they will receive in exchange.

For years, the construction of wind or photovoltaic parks has been accompanied by reluctance, if not rejection, on the part of municipalities or platforms in depopulated Spain, which is where they are usually located.. Although parties like the BNG have been demanding tax compensation for this for years, it was the protests of Galician and Asturian fishermen against the delimitation of areas for offshore wind that made Ribera openly talk about compensation for municipalities affected by renewable projects.. They would be a key element of the “just transition”, such as the agreement that was closed a few months ago in the awarding of the Mudéjar junction in Teruel. However, the contact between promoters and city councils is not new, it is a more discreet work that usually starts with expectations on the part of the local communities regarding what they usually obtain in the end, which is not small either.

“Offers of social and environmental benefits will be essential,” said the vice president on the day the EU gave its final approval to the new regulation to speed up the deployment of renewables.. The new regulation indicates that EU countries will “guarantee public participation” and, as until now, leaves it up to each government to decide which administrations or public should be consulted. They must also “promote public acceptance of the projects through direct or indirect participation of local communities”, an element that Ribera wants to take into account.. “It is one thing for the regulation to say that [renewable projects] are a priority and another thing is that it must be done with the best possible participation by local communities.”

“Beyond what is indicated, involvement and work with local communities is needed,” he added before specifying that, for the moment, everything is pending the investiture.. “Now in office, we cannot adopt any type of modification. But, without a doubt, it is one of the challenges for the Government's mandate to be finally invested.”

From the recovery of olive trees to self-consumption

Until then, Ribera referred to the conditions of the fair transition tender by which the Ministry awarded the Mudéjar project to Endesa, through which the company had access to the connection node that left the end of operation of the Andorra thermal power plant in disuse. , in Teruel, to implement renewables. In addition to technical conditions on the facilities that will take advantage of the connection instead of the thermal one, a series of compensations were compulsorily included for the local community that Ribera will take as an example if in the coming months it continues to be responsible for managing the renewable deployment. , in this case, to the new forced marches set by the EU.

Specifically, Endesa committed to installing a green hydrogen production plant, an electrolyzer factory and a solar tracker manufacturing plant and will contract with a local company to build the concrete towers for the wind turbines awarded the tender.

The agreement also includes a recycling center for equipment from renewable parks, a logistics and recovery center for wind turbines and will make the town of Andorra the headquarters of the purchasing unit to manage all supply activities associated with renewable facilities. of the project. In the agricultural chapter, the auction closed with Endesa's commitment to recover 50,000 abandoned olive trees and reinforce the associated canning factory, as well as recover other dry crops and seek labor integration of people with disabilities in these activities.

The residents of the area will have a new hiking route, the Museum of the Evolution of Beekeeping will be reinforced and the conditioning of the Val de Zafán railway line as a greenway will be improved. In parallel, Endesa committed to installing 2,343 kW of photovoltaic self-consumption for the creation of energy communities in several municipalities, to reduce the energy costs of some 2,840 consumers.

From the electricity reduction to the IBI

Although it is the largest, the auction of the Andorra node has not been the first time that renewable promoters and city councils negotiate how a solar or wind park can benefit neighbors. They are “quite long” processes in which expectations are usually far above what is usually achieved in the end.. “Local communities are asking for two things: employment and a reduction in the electricity bill,” explains Alejandro Labanda, director of Ecological Transition at the consulting firm beBartlet, from his experience facilitating the developer and municipalities to agree on compensation, in process. which warns that they tend to be “quite long”, now that, like the rest of the EU, Spain will have a deadline to close them, in order to create the renewable acceleration zones.

According to Labanda, “neither of the two things is easy”. Although it may seem logical – especially to themselves – that neighbors want to have free electricity in exchange for having a wind or photovoltaic park planted next to their house, it is also true that the price of electricity is unique in Spain, not can be determined a la carte. As far as employment is concerned, the construction of renewable parks usually requires a qualified workforce, especially in wind farms, which is not usually available only locally and when they are built they do not require much direct employment.

Therefore, what usually happens is that city councils end up changing these initial expectations for more modest ones, such as guaranteeing that all supplies for maintenance, hospitality and other services generated by the plant are local, until reaching what is usually the largest benefit, tax collection for the wind or photovoltaic park. First, a building permit and then, the IBI, which is “a good pinch” and which in small towns means that renewables largely support the municipal budget.. Once admitted, Labanda indicates that the population sees them in the form of returns such as improved resources.

On the other hand, and as also happened in Andorra, promoters and electricity companies usually offer social projects or training courses, which “ask for a lot,” says Labanda, such as professional retraining courses, CCC scholarships.. Since they cannot reduce the bill, on other occasions they “donate plant panels” to supply electricity to municipal facilities such as the day center or the town hall, carry out energy efficiency projects or install an electric car charging point.