The Minister of Ecological Transition and Energy of the Canary Islands Government, Mariano H. Zapata (Popular Party), spoke this Friday on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero following the controversy sparked after his Ministry initiated the declaration of general interest for the installation of a photovoltaic plant with more than 7,000 panels in Mácher, Tías. Despite the opposition of the Tías City Council and the Lanzarote Cabildo.
According to the Canary Islands Energy Officer, the declaration "definitively decayed" on January 1st after the developer failed to submit a report requested by Biodiversity of the Canary Islands Government, and therefore, the declaration of general interest for the project will not proceed.
"It has decayed not because people shouted, because the media came out, but because the different documentation that was requested was not complete," Zapata said in his speech on the radio program Buenos días, Lanzarote.
According to the official, "any Canary Islander who makes a request to any public administration has the right to be attended to and, at least, to see the procedures initiated." To initiate the exceptional declaration of works of general interest, Zapata relied on Article 6 bis of the law regulating the Canary Islands electricity sector, which states that when there are "justified reasons of urgency or exceptional interest," the Ministry may declare the general interest of the works, which will be subject to "a special regime" and "will not be subject to urban planning license or any other act of municipal or island preventive control."
Other two projects
On the other hand, Zapata added that there is a second project, also located in the Mácher area, under the name Tías 1, and that "has not even reached the stage of general interest." This second project has been, according to the counselor, in the information phase and has received 50 allegations, including those from the Tías City Council, interested parties, and residents of the area. The Canary Islands Government now has to analyze these allegations.
He also blamed the PSOE for the uproar generated by the installation of this photovoltaic park, accusing them of fueling "a hoax." Thus, Zapata assured that when the Magec 1 Project came to the fore, the president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, assured him that "in Lanzarote nor in any island will any project come out in which we are not in agreement and aligned with both the Government of the Canary Islands."
Thus, there is a third project planned in Tías. At this point, the head of Energy assured that the Ministry itself will transfer the report to the City Council and the Cabildo of Lanzarote so that, if they deem it appropriate, they can express their disagreement.
To conclude, he stressed that "we are working in a coordinated manner with the Cabildo de Lanzarote so that it can be the first island in which there is a protocol of action for planning the placement of renewable energies." Thus, Lanzarote will have "renewable acceleration zones," which will establish "in which areas there will be and which can locate plants or renewable energies on the island of Lanzarote."
