You know, it's like the slogan of the European Regional Development Fund: "A way to make Europe." Are they expropriating land from farmers to give it to Arabs for solar and wind energy in the south of Gran Canaria? Yes. The officials in Las Palmas have learned the lesson from their superiors and argue that the expropriations have "a purpose of social interest that has been included in international commitments signed by the Spanish State such as the Paris Agreement against climate change, adopted at COP 21 Paris." Not even the Count of Vega Grande escapes these forced land seizures, and Endesa (Enel) has taken a bite out of Juan Grande.
Endesa, through Enel Green Power Spain, has closed this December 23 its alliance in renewables with the United Arab Emirates group Masdar by selling a minority stake of 49,99% in a portfolio of operational photovoltaic projects in Spain with a total installed capacity of about two gigawatts (GW) for 850 million euros, the electric company reported. Specifically, Masdar will take that minority stake in the share capital of EGPE Solar, the entity that owns these photovoltaic assets, in an operation that values 100% of this company at about 1.700 billion euros. The land that is expropriated in Juan Grande al Conde, among others, will have as its owner a state company from the United Arab Emirates.
And this is the reality in the south of Gran Canaria that no one tells us about: In this BOE resolution, a Director General of Energy announces the expropriation of land for photovoltaics y in this other one by Naturgy, formerly Gas Natural. And this is a third one from Enel to plan to expropriate land in Juan Grande. Among the allegations against the Heirs of Mr. Alejandro del Castillo y Bravo de Laguna and Grupo Inmobiliario Tinojai, it warns of the effects on a project in El Matorral "and of which we are also partly co-owners of the property register" given that "the area or lands in part of our property specifically affected by this photovoltaic plant project are already subject to numerous effects and easements corresponding to other approved or planned electrical lines and installations, which we warn about for the appropriate purposes."
It is not known which lands are located in the south of Gran Canaria, given that Endesa, owned by the Italian State, is the leading operator on the islands. This sale is not a coincidence: it is part of a whole agenda that will be more visible in the coming years in renewable energies in the south of Gran Canaria. What has happened here is that they have started declaring agricultural lands in the south of the island to be of general interest in order to expropriate them, and now it happens that this land, which has become infertile, is in the hands of Arabs: making a mess of things.
To top it all off, these projects are publicly funded. The Institute for Energy Diversification and Savings (IDAE), an agency dependent on the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco), will allocate 22,3 million euros in aid for the development of new wind farms with a joint investment of around 115 million euros. Of the 16 projects provisionally awarded, 8 would be launched on the island of Gran Canaria for an aid value of more than 12,5 million euros and a power of 68,5 MW. The real investment is scarce because it leaves nothing in the south of the island except for inconveniences for neighbours and some municipal taxes. The money is little because investors supplement it, but the support of the IDAE already generates the definitive social interest so that families who have rural land are supposedly left defenceless against the entire financial scheme that Arab capital, with its liquidity, takes advantage of.
The Eolcan 2 programme is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), aimed at "strengthening economic and social cohesion in the European Union and correcting the imbalances that exist between its regions". This is the fourth award of renewable power in non-peninsular territories, After the first calls for wind technology in the Canary Islands (Eolcan) and for solar photovoltaic technology in the Balearic Islands (Solbal) and the Canary Islands (Solcan)Together, they represent the mobilization of 137 million euros in public support and approximately 803 million euros in investment.
