The Government of Canarias and the Cabildo de Lanzarote have announced this Thursday that they have held a meeting to address the conflict generated after the publication of the Renewable Acceleration Zones (ZAR) agreed upon on the island.
Ecological Transition has informed that it has addressed with the first institution the implementation of renewable energies, including photovoltaic roofs and anthropized spaces.
At the same time that it has been agreed to launch the technical/political commission, which the Councilor for Territorial Policy of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Jesús Machín Tavío (CC), had refused a week ago. The Ministry has indicated that in this meeting the correction of errors in the published maps and the review of the more than 3,100 hectares agreed upon on the island.
In a press release, Transition has defended that it will advance in "an orderly energy transition, adapted to the island reality and fully compatible with the uniqueness and environmental and landscape protection of the island", in the face of criticism for the impact on the landscape.
The area managed by Mariano Zapata (PP) has defended that the call for this commission is "a natural step" within a process that has been worked on in a coordinated manner and with technical criteria from the first moment. In this regard, the counselor has assured that “we continue to advance together with the Cabildo de Lanzarote so that the Renewable Acceleration Zones are an instrument at the service of the island's energy transition, with the clear and inalienable protection of the environment and the identity of Lanzarote.”
The president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, has for his part emphasized that “from the Cabildo we are going to promote the creation of an internal technical committee that allows us to rigorously coordinate this entire process, as well as the implementation of sectoral commissions in which the different agents involved on the island are represented, in addition to the town councils and professional associations of the different sectors," he indicated.
Betancort has assured that "the objective is to consensually define what the strategy should be regarding renewables and, above all, how to implement it in an orderly, guaranteeing, and adapted way to the reality of Lanzarote and La Graciosa”.
The Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of Lanzarote have assured that the ZARs constitute a planning tool to order the deployment of clean energies, facilitating the identification of locations that present better conditions from a technical, territorial, and environmental point of view, avoiding resorting to the general interest procedure established in article 6-bis of the Law on the Regulation of the Canary Islands Electricity Sector.
The environmental evaluations
Likewise, they have reiterated that the plan that definitively defines the Renewable Acceleration Zones will be subject to a strategic environmental assessment and that each project located in a RAZ must also follow, "the environmental procedure established by state regulations, which reinforces environmental protection guarantees".
Currently, the decree-law approved by Transition allows to move forward renewable energy installation projects in Renewable Acceleration Zones (RAZ) without the need to present an environmental assessment, replacing it with a non-impact procedure. A simpler mechanism that does not require the participation of other institutions.
The two administrations have added that these areas for installing renewables "complement the determined commitment of both institutions to the priority use of rooftops and anthropized spaces." "That orientation is in line with the Climate Change and Energy Transition Law promoted by the current Government of the Canary Islands, which establishes the obligation to occupy all rooftops of new constructions or renovations with photovoltaic installations," they have argued.
Only 0.23% would be needed although a 3.75% has been approved
Transition has assured that only 0.23% of Lanzarote's territory would be needed to meet the decarbonization objectives set for the year 2030. However, the maps published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands house 3.75% of the island's territory. From the Department led by Mariano H. Zapata (PP) it has always been maintained that this area has been agreed upon with the island Council. Despite this, this Thursday it has assured that "it is still being evaluated by the technicians to comply with the decarbonization objectives."
The Ministry has reported that it has prohibited the expropriation of land in the case of photovoltaic solar energy, so that developers must have full ownership of the necessary land to develop their projects. Likewise, it has added that the Government of the Canary Islands is working on promoting a decree for 20% local participation in renewable energy projects installed on land of more than 2MW.
"These projects must offer this percentage to institutions and Canarian citizens, who will have the opportunity to participate in the renewable initiatives developed in their environment, thus taking a decisive step in the democratization of clean energies," he/she/it stated.
After months of a public battle between both institutions, the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of Lanzarote have shown their willingness to continue working in a coordinated manner on a strategy in line with the reality of the island and with its environmental and landscape uniqueness.
"The shared objective is to advance with technical rigor, planning, and institutional consensus, correcting the errors detected in the printing of the maps carried out by the public company contracted by the Government of the Canary Islands, reviewing in detail the defined spaces and keeping intact the commitment to decarbonization compatible with the protection of the territory," they concluded.
