The Cabildo of Lanzarote and La Graciosa will open a round of meetings with the seven town councils on the island to incorporate their proposals and finalize the document for the new insular proposal for Renewable Acceleration Zones (ZAR), which will subsequently be sent to the Government of the Canary Islands.
The proposal drafted by the Institution drastically reduces the surface area initially planned for the ZAR, going from the 3,163 hectares contemplated in the first draft to less than 200 hectares, approximately 0.25% of the island's territory. The document concentrates future facilities on the roofs of public buildings, parking lots, infrastructure, and degraded land, in addition to considering a photovoltaic park in the vicinity of the Tahíche penitentiary center, whose energy production will be primarily allocated to the integral water cycle.
The Cabildo has concluded the technical work process developed over the past few weeks with professional associations, the island's Chamber of Commerce, and the various departments involved in territorial, environmental, energy, and water planning, as well as the Corporation's Heritage, Geopark, and Biosphere Reserve departments, to advance in the definition of the new insular ZAR proposal.
This process is part of the new phase opened after the withdrawal of the initial ZAR cartography by the regional Executive, a decision that allowed the model to be redefined based on consensual criteria of territorial protection, reduction of land occupation, and prioritization of already transformed spaces.
The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, Oswaldo Betancort, highlighted that "today we take another step in a process that began by defending the territory. We now have a technical proposal prepared by the Cabildo, and we want the town councils to participate in its definition before sending it to the Government of the Canary Islands. Our goal is for the energy transition to be carried out through consensus, with planning, and respecting the uniqueness of our island."
Betancort added that "Lanzarote advocates for the energy transition to be carried out with its own criteria, concentrating facilities where they generate the least possible impact and ensuring that this transformation benefits the citizens."
For his part, the Minister of Energy, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, explained that the Cabildo's proposal "prioritizes public land and already transformed spaces to develop public, orderly renewable energy with a return for the citizens. The first project will be linked to the integral water cycle, allowing progress towards greater energy self-sufficiency in an essential service for the island".
With this round of meetings with the town councils, the Cabildo will culminate the consensus process initiated months ago to configure an island proposal that reconciles the energy transition with the protection of the landscape, territory, and strategic sectors of Lanzarote and La Graciosa.