Investing in the south of Gran Canaria in the photovoltaic energy sector, in addition to an ordeal for neighbors and meager municipal income, will have changes in the regional regulations. Among others, the projects must be anchored with local partners, whether public or private. In this context, they demand that there be no mandatory social action in the projects that are proposed. For example, it will count if there are social NGOs in the project. In this way, local demands are responded to because financial operators come to the region like when the first Goths arrived with the Conquest in 1478.
For this reason, the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF) has presented nine allegations to Decree-Law 5/2024 modifying Law 6/2022 on Climate Change of the Canary Islands, in which, among other matters, it asks to eliminate the mandatory nature of social participation. to companies based on the islands. The entity has also demanded that the Canary Islands Government clarify the technologies subject to the social participation criterion, as well as limit the percentage of social participation to public legal entities to 2,5% of the total social participation accreditation. Likewise, they have proposed reducing the guarantees required from companies that accredit citizen participation and adjusting the percentage of participation to the final power of the project, when modifications occur during its processing.
The UNEF assures that, although the Department of Ecological Transition and Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands is covered by the Renewable Directive 2023/2413, said community regulations "do not specify that they must be 2 MW projects nor that the percentage must be 20%". Therefore, he understands that this integration of local participation in solar projects "must be carried out appropriately so as not to become a barrier that could put the development and energy transition of the islands at risk."
The business association has valued this Monday in a statement the social participation in the solar projects carried out in the archipelago, based on article 64 of the aforementioned decree-law, although it considers that it should not be mandatory because this "is an attack on freedom of enterprise". This article regulates social participation for renewable projects, on a mandatory basis, for projects from 2 megawatts (MW) of power, in which 20% must be reserved for local participation, whether public or private.
This is why UNEF has proposed eliminating the mandatory social participation requirement for companies located in the south of Gran Canaria or, failing that, extending the mandatory limit to projects of five megawatts. Likewise, they have argued that the percentage of accreditation of social participation be reduced, that debt be allowed as a valid product to be accredited, that the accreditation of social participation be modified over time, since the decree establishes that it must be accredited at the time to come out to public information, "which is excessively early in time," in his opinion.
