The electricity companies are preparing for a long legal battle with the autonomous government of Alfonso Rueda in Galicia if it finally forces the companies to carry out a repowering of the wind farms when they have reached their 25-year operational life.
Galicia wants to force electricity companies to reduce the number of wind turbines in its territory. To this end, the regional Executive has proposed a mandatory repowering of wind farms, an extreme that has caused tremendous anger in the sector that describes the measure as expropriation.
The proposed Law on fiscal measures raises the obligation to carry out a ‘repowering’ at age 25an extreme that the sector assures that it represents an attack by the Popular Party on the company in a liberalized sector such as electricity generation.
The sector also highlights the existing inconsistency between the postulates of the PP that defends in Catalonia the extension of the operational life of nuclear power plants while preventing the maintenance of the life of renewable installations that, in many cases, may still be pending amortization in the companies’ accounts.
The Xunta is also preparing a change in the tax that currently applies to wind turbines. If at this time, the regional government charges for each existing wind turbine, the current proposal imitates that of Aragon to charge for height and power, which would serve to maintain income from this sector.
The change in the tax also represents a blow for repowering projects. In fact, one of the most notable success stories in this region was carried out a few years ago by Elecnor with the Malpica park, which was able to be repowered thanks to the sharp reduction in the number of wind turbines it has in the area. The situation in Galicia has also caused a real revolt in the sector.
The companies have started a series of meetings with both national and regional political representatives to discuss these plans.
Europe, worried
The scandal surrounding the proposal has even attracted attention in Brussels. In fact, the European wind industry association, WindEurope, sent a letter to both the Spanish and regional governments to explain that “a repowering imposed on companies is completely foreign to this consensus and would undoubtedly be perceived with great suspicion in the European institutionsbeing contradictory with the basic principles of European law”.
For this association, which brings together the largest world producers, “there is no legal support in the EU system for a public authority to impose on the businessman when and under what conditions he must withdraw his old capital goods and acquire a new range in the market.” And they highlight as a fundamental aspect that the plants in operation maintain the conditions of the initial authorization and the safety of the wind turbines.
For Wind Europe, The decision to repower or not must be adopted legitimately by employers and the public sector does not have, in European law, the power to interfere in the business decision of which to choose.
The Xunta de Galicia has already received amendments to the tax measures bill in which the withdrawal of this issue is proposed, which adds to the existing tension due to another measure included in the Natural Resources Law that also requires the sale of part of the production of new wind installations that are declared of special interest to the Galician industry.
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