Justice annuls Iberdrola's mega solar plant in Cáceres

• DAVID VIGARIO

  Merida

Updated on Saturday, 8January2022-01: 59

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The Administrative Litigation Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura (TSJEx) has annulled the specific modification of the General Municipal Plan (PGM) of Cáceres, approved to regulate the installation of plants for the production of photovoltaic solar energy on undeveloped land protection of the Llanos area of ​​the capital of Cáceres and which allowed the installation of Iberdrola's mega-solar plant in Cáceres with a power of 150 megawatts.

Prior to the modification of the urban plan, only plants for the production of photovoltaic solar energy of

, and with the modification, there was no limitation whatsoever to install any plant, whatever its power, on undeveloped land for protection in this area. The ruling ensures that the installation of photovoltaic plants for solar energy is not compatible with the protection and environmental interests in a protected undeveloped land.

The ruling gives the reason to the environmental association ADENEx, which had appealed the specific modification of the PGM, by the Cáceres City Council,

. This modification of the PGOU (2010) was initiated by the Cáceres City Council in 2014, at the initiative of the multinational, and finally approved by the Extremadura Board in 2019 in favor of Parque Solar Cáceres, an Iberdrola company. The investment that Iberdrola announced for the 'Los Arenales' plant when construction began a year ago was 95 million euros.

Therefore, the TSJEx considers that the documentation provided by the municipality to justify the change in land use "does not offer sufficient motivation based on the general interest of the population" and was promoted by the City Council, according to the Extremadura high court

, without" proving a clear and evident motivation of general interest or the needs of the municipality of Cáceres ".

The Chamber specifies that "it is not admissible, from the point of view of general interest, is that in order to avoid having numerous installations or that small endowments can be grouped together, they are now allowed to be photovoltaic solar plants without any limitation of power and extension" .

In addition, the ruling underlines that the City Council, in the process of processing the land modification,

, so that said photovoltaic installations can be installed without hindrance.

The modification of the PGM, adds the sentence, tries to give viability, "without motivation or justification, to something that the planner considered unfeasible in 2010".

APPRAISALS

The Court reiterates the doctrine embodied in another of the same Chamber of the TSJEx, of September 2021, which annulled the specific modification of the PGM also in the non-developable land of Llanos protection, to authorize the existing activities of "deposits of waste or scrap metal" , as well as those of "waste management, treatment and recycling of recoverable waste". The sentence is not final and

. The consistory now has 30 business days to appeal to the Supreme Court (TS) and the mayor of Cáceres, Luis Salaya, has assured that the "government's commitment will continue to be the implementation of renewable energies" in addition to considering that the Adenex association "miss the mark" regarding this case,

The councilor has reaffirmed his commitment to a model that respects the environment, such as that of photovoltaic plants, compared to others "much more harmful, such as the one presented by the Valdeflores lithium mine project", a very controversial project of action and that it has not been launched due to the City Council's refusal to grant it legal authorization to do so.

For its part, ADENEX recalls that the municipality of Cáceres is the largest in Spain and although much of it is protected, it also has thousands of hectares of common undeveloped land and

land "where they can be located .

industrial facilities without having to do it on protected ground ".

OTHER PROJECTS, IN THE AIR

The sentence, if it becomes final, would leave Iberdrola's mega-plant located on the N-521 (between Malpartida de Cáceres and Aliseda, but in the municipality of Cáceres) out of order but

, such as those of El Jabalí and Piñuela in the town of Cáceres and the mega plants that the Acciona company also promotes in the area, in addition to two other plants that are projected in the foothills of the Mountain.

The Confederation of Entrepreneurs and Autonomous of Extremadura (CEADE) has asked for "common sense and fewer restrictions" to the projects that try to establish themselves in the region, because the only thing that is being done is "losing opportunities and scare away investments."

For CEADE, it is essential to find "

, but what we observe is that it seeks to put problems with any project that arrives in the region and it is said not to everything by system", he points out.

In this sense, CEADE ironizes that "at this rate

and the only migratory birds will be the young, who have to go to other places because they are denied future opportunities".

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