The Administrative Court of the Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura (TSJEX) has annulled the punctual modification of the Municipal General Plan (PGM) of Cáceres, approved to regulate the installation of plants for the production of photovoltaic solar energy on the non-urbanized soil Protection of the Los Llanos area of the Capital Cacereña and that allowed the installation of the Solar Megaplanta of IBERDROLA in Cáceres with a power of 150 megawatts.
Prior to the modification of the urban plan, only plants were allowed for the production of photovoltaic solar energy up to 5 MW and / or 10 hectares per installation, and with the modification, there was no limitation to install any plant, whatever it was its Power, on the non-urbanized protection in this area. The failure ensures that the installation of photovoltaic plants for solar energy is not compatible with environmental protection and interests in a protected non-urbanized soil.
The judgment gives the reason for the Adenex Ecological Association, which had resorted by the point modification of the PGM, by the City Council, considering it detrimental to the environmental protection of the area. This modification of the pgou (year 2010) was initiated by the City Council of Cáceres in 2014, at the initiative of the multinational, and definitively approved by the Extremadura Board in 2019 in favor of Solar Park Cáceres, IBERDROLA company. The investment that Iberdrola announced for the 'Los Arenales' plant When one year ago it began to be built was 95 million euros.
For this reason, the TSJEX considers that the documentation provided by the municipality to justify the change of land use "does not offer enough motivation based on the general interest of the population" and was promoted by the City Council, according to the High Court Extremadura " For the privative interest of a mercantile society ", without" a clear and evident motivation of general interest or the needs of the municipality of Cáceres is accredited. "
The room specifies that "it is not admissible, from the point of view of the general interest, it is that to avoid numerous facilities or who can be grouped small endowments, now it is allowed to be photovoltaic solar plants without limitation of power and extension" .
In addition, the judgment emphasizes that the City Council, in the process of processing land modification, did not offer "urbanized soil alternatives or non-protected non-urbanized soil", so that said photovoltaic installations can be installed without an obstacle. The modification of the PGM, adds the judgment, aims to give viability, "without motivation or justification, to something that the planner considered in 2010".
The court reiterates the doctrine embodied in another of the same hall of the Tsjex, September 2021, which annulled the point modification of the PGM also on the non-urbanized floor of Llanos protection, to authorize the existing activities of "waste or scrap deposits" , as well as those of "waste management, recoverable treatment and recycling". The sentence is not firm and can be resorted. The Consistory now has 30 business days to resort to the Supreme Court (TS) and the Mayor of Cáceres, Luis Salaya has assured that the "Government's commitment will continue to be the implementation of renewable energies" in addition to considering that the Adenex Association "Watch the shot" with respect to this case,
The Regidor has reaffirmed his commitment to a model respectful with the environment, such as the photovoltaic plants, in front of others "much more harmful, as is the one that presents the Lithium Mine" de Valdeflores project, a very controversial action project and that it has not been launched by the negative of the City Council to grant you the legal authorization for it.
For its part, Adenex recalls that the municipality of Cáceres is the largest of Spain and although much of it is protected, it also has thousands of hectares of common non-urbanizable soil and thousands of square meters of undoubted industrial "where they can be located Industrial facilities without having to do it on the protected soil. "
The sentence, if it becomes firm, would leave the IBERDROLA megaplanta out of ordination located in the N-521 (between Malpartida de Cáceres and Aliseda, but in the municipality of Cáceres) but it would also obstruct other projects that are being processed , like those of El Boar and Piñuela in the town of Cacereña and the megaplantas that the company ACCIONA also promotes in the area, as well as two other plants that are projected in the foothills of the mountain.
The Confederation of Entremporary Entrepreneurs of Extremadura (CEADE) has asked for "common sense and fewer restrictions" to the projects that try to settle in the region, because the only thing that is being done is "lose opportunities and scare investments." For Ceade, it is essential to find "a balance between growth and that it is sustainable, but what we observe is that it is sought to attach to any project that reaches the region and it is said not to everything by system," he says.
In this sense, Ceade ironizes that "at this rate the animal that will be in danger of extinction in Extremadura will be man and the only migratory birds will be young people, who have to go to other sites because they are denied opportunities for the future."
Date Of Update: 07 January 2022, 22:22
