The Supreme Court (SC) has dealt a final blow to the Canary Islands' gasification plans, ostracizing the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant projects in Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Although the ruling, number 1188/2025 of the Administrative Litigation Division, dismisses the multi-million-dollar claim by the company Enagás Transporte, SAU, its factual grounds confirm that the State has abandoned the archipelago's gasification project in favor of renewable energy, violating the principle of legitimate trust that had been built up over decades.
The High Court has heard the appeal filed by Enagás Transporte, SAU against the dismissal of a claim for liability of €18.655.000, which sought to recover the investments made in the projects, particularly the Tenerife plant. Enagás's central argument was based on a violation of the principle of legitimate expectations due to the "flagrant overall inconsistency" of the actions of the State and the legislature, which imposed the investment and then torpedoed it.
Enagás' argument focused on two key points:
Inconsistent Administrative Action: The government included the plants in the mandatory planning as "Category A" facilities (without demand constraints) and forced Enagás to continue the process. However, in 2018, the government ultimately rejected the authorization (for the Tenerife plant) because it considered demand insufficient and the project financially unsustainable. This requirement, according to Enagás, was applied unexpectedly and on an individual basis.
Legislative Contradiction: Law 17/2013 required Enagás to purchase plant projects from the company Gascan (and pay for them), integrating them into the gas system. Subsequently, Royal Decree-Law 6/2022 "completely contradictorily and surprisingly" excluded these plants from the gas system, preventing their development.
The State Attorney's Office argued that the inclusion of a facility in the planning did not guarantee its construction and that energy policy priorities and demand forecasts could change. The State relied on the 2017-2018 CNMC (National Commission for Markets and Competition) reports, which were key to denying Tenerife's authorization, arguing the project's lack of economic sustainability.
Crucially, the State invoked Law 6/2022 on climate change and energy transition in the Canary Islands, which aims for energy self-sufficiency and decarbonization through renewables. The State Attorney argued that the archipelago's lack of sustainability and new energy policy made the authorization of the infrastructure "highly unlikely," regardless of Royal Decree-Law 6/2022.
Although the Supreme Court's ruling dismisses the €18,6 million compensation award (part of the ruling is based on a preliminary question of the untimeliness of the claim, in addition to the lack of unlawfulness of the acts), the Supreme Court's Legal Basis consolidates a factual reality: gasification in the Canary Islands is unviable and has been replaced by a renewable energy strategy. The ruling, dated September 25, 2025, concludes a process that has lasted more than two decades, confirming that the islands' historical energy dependence will be resolved through decarbonization, not gas.
