Work on the construction of a solar farm in the Vega Baja has been stalled due to objections and a recent change in the law. Certain legislation allows the installation of solar energy farms in the Valencian community, subject to certain conditions. However, an existing project planned for the Vega Baja has been called to a halt due to a recent law change. The reason is that part of the legislation specifies that these mega solar farms cannot be built in areas with a high risk of flooding. The legislation also protects valuable farmland – that is, soil with an established high ‘agronomic’ value, the most fertile land, cannot be used for solar farming. Unfortunately for the Vega Baja project, the plots earmarked for this so called solar mega-plant are both on a flood plain, and are of high agronomic value.
Since mid 2019, a new process for transferring the authorised use of land from cultivation or construction to solar farming has been underway throughout the Valencian Community. Until an amendment to the legislation was published in August of this year, previous regulations allowed small scale solar plants on rustic land without the need to file a Declaration of Community Interest (DIC), an urban planning procedure that can take years.
The Catral Electric Cooperative, under the new legislation, had already been building the infrastructure for a new solar farm in the Vega Baja with an investment so far of over €1 million and a planned capacity of 1,815 MW. The facility occupies an area of 37,000 square metres and at the moment the supports for 4,508 solar panels are being installed.
The problem now is twofold – the land on which the solar plant is to be installed is both high risk for flooding, and of great agronomic value; two factors disallowed by the new regulations.
Mayor of Catral Inmaculada Úbeda revealed that the Catral Electrical Cooperative has already had a major work permit from the town hall, issued last June, to begin work on the rustic land after completing all of the required municipal paperwork including approval by the highway administration as the plots of land in question are adjacent to the Alicante-Cartagena motorway.
Since then, conservation group Amigos de los Humedales del Sur de Alicante (AHSA) have presented objections to the project. According to a report in regional newspaper Información, the Cooperative responded to the allegations but the AHSA have not received notification of that response.
AHSA’s allegations pinpoint the flood risk of the chosen plots but also the protection of the landscape.
The last version of Valencian urban law had allowed solar power plants on rustic land if they did not exceed 100,000 square meters without the need to complete the Declaration of Community Interest (DIC). However, between the time the Catral project was presented and when work began for its construction, the regional regulations changed with an amendment to the law on August 7th.
The project in Catral could overcome this obstacle because the new rule is not retroactive but only if the Catral Cooperative has prior express authorization from the regional administration to operate a solar farm. The recent law change also leaves the proposal for a solar power station in Callosa up in the air. The Callosa proposal represents an investment of €2.5 million and if approved would see 7000 solar panels on 54,000 square metres of land.