The dispute between the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Government of the Canary Islands over the available areas of the island to install solar panel fields and wind energy mills does not cease. While Transition insists that the 3,100 hectares of Lanzarote agreed upon for the installation of renewables are valid and available, the Cabildo of Lanzarote rejects the maps and asks to renegotiate the affected lands.
Since the publication of those maps, which opened the door to installing solar panel fields and wind farms on an island with a special sensitivity for territorial protection, a public dispute between the island councilor for Territorial Policy, Jesús Machín Tavío (Canarian Coalition), the most critical voice within the Cabildo de Lanzarote regarding the initiative, and the Canarian councilor for Ecological Transition, Mariano H. Zapata, has been unfolding. The former insists that there has been "a colossal error" and the latter assures that the planned surface area is correct.
In the framework of this battle between institutions, the Government of the Canary Islands has invited the Cabildo of Lanzarote to designate the technicians who will participate in the Monitoring Commission of the Renewable Acceleration Zones to address the controversies, but the Cabildo of Lanzarote has refused to do so. "The approval of that Monitoring Commission is needed to be able to continue with the protocol," Jesús Machín Tavío, Minister of Territorial Policy of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, insisted this Friday morning on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero, who has refused to continue with the procedure.
"Those documents are erroneous; neither the protocol, nor the maps, nor anything that has to do with the ZAR are currently in force", Machín has assured, who has insisted that the maps are not endorsed by the Cabildo de Lanzarote and, therefore, "are fallen". "Those documents are not official and that's it", Machín has maintained. The head of Territorial Policy of Lanzarote has assured that the only thing that was signed is "a protocol of intentions" and that to continue with that protocol it is necessary "to appoint a Monitoring Commission".
In view of this, the Deputy Minister of Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands, Julieta Schallenberg, has assured in statements to this medium this very Friday that the 3,100 hectares of the island available for installing renewables have been agreed upon with the island government. "The protocol is signed, published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands and, therefore, would be in force," she highlighted. However, Transition extends a hand to the Cabildo of Lanzarote to renegotiate what was agreed.
The Canarian counselor has insisted that "the first party interested in the protocol going ahead has to be the Cabildo itself", which has requested on other occasions that wind farms not be authorized in unstudied areas, as happened with the one in Mácher. At the same time, she added that if the Cabildo does not sit down to negotiate these areas, "what is published in the BOC will remain".
In July 2025, the president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort (Canarian Coalition), announced the agreement reached with the Ministry of Ecological Transition, led by Mariano H. Zapata (Popular Party), to declare the renewable acceleration zones. A month later, the maps were published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands: 3,100 hectares of Lanzarote (3.75% of the island territory), although to achieve the decarbonization objectives, 200 were enough, according to the Vice-Minister of Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands, Julieta Schallenberg.
I would not rule out judicializing the case if it were necessary
Machín Tavío has intervened in the radio program Good morning, Lanzarote that he is willing to go to the Courts to defend the island's position. Machín has insisted that the maps of the renewable acceleration zones (RAZ) published by the Canarian Government "are not the correct ones" and that he could go to court if an agreement is not reached. "To defend my island I would go wherever I have to go", he maintained on the morning show Good morning, Lanzarote.
The island councilor has pointed out that "in this case it will not be necessary" to resort to legal action and has justified himself by warning that for two administrations to be able to move forward with a protocol of this type, "both have to provide technicians" and that the island's primary institution has not provided them because it does not agree with the area that the maps occupy.
Transition insists on the validity of the published maps
About whether there are requests for the installation of wind or solar energy on the island, the vice-counselor highlighted: "At the moment we are not processing anything, that does not mean that we could not do it." "If something were to be processed, we would do it respecting the rules of the game that we have self-imposed," she warned.
Schallenberg has insisted that the Cabildo de Lanzarote must appoint the technicians who will participate in the Monitoring Commission of these spaces to be able to correct "the material errors of the plans that were published." From Transition, they have attributed the errors denounced by Machín Tavío to the printing of four maps, where some areas of the island appeared drawn as spaces for installing renewables, but on which the layers of agricultural soils, among others, were not applied.
So, Schallenberg has highlighted that the regional institution is willing to reduce the areas agreed upon in Lanzarote, "as long as ensuring that decarbonization on the island of Lanzarote will be able to be carried out" and respecting the "margins of speculation". "There was an already closed negotiation, but we can understand that there may have been external conditions that we can now correct, but for that we have to sit down," he indicated.
Given the regional stance, Machín has insisted that in the latest revision of the renewable acceleration maps, the entire area affecting Caleta de Caballo up to La Santa was eliminated and that only "a tiny bit above Hotel La Santa" would remain. "They had forgotten to put the agriculture layer in a municipality that is eminently agricultural and I had to fight 47 times for them to put it," he highlighted, "when they put it, half the town disappeared from the maps because half the town is cultivated," stated the Coalición Canaria counselor.
Until that monitoring table is carried out, Schallenberg has warned that the published maps are the ones that are in force and that the companies promoting these renewable energies can consult them through Grafcan.
Demands the environmental evaluation
Finally, Machín Tavío has assured he has contacted the spokesperson of the Canarian Coalition Parliamentary Group in the Canarian Parliament, José Miguel Barragán, regarding the modification of the published decree-law and the loss of the environmental assessment. In this regard, he has assured that from Canarian Coalition they urged the Popular Party to present the decree-law in the form of a bill so that "the environmental assessment returns."
Deputy Minister Schallenberg has indicated that in the acceleration zones "there are, a priori, no environmental values to preserve and, therefore, these renewable facilities would be feasible." She has also assured that to approve these spaces they have been "very restrictive" and that they have added restrictions "environmental, biodiversity and agricultural."
