The energy department of the government has denied authorisation to the company Energía, Innovación y Desarrollo Fotovoltaico, SA to implement a 10MW photovoltaic plant in the municipality of San Miguel de Salinas, for occupying land that is within the 500-metre perimeter of the protected area of Sierra Escalona.
The resolution states that the authorisation is rejected “as the location is not considered appropriate.” Likewise, the resolution recalls that this type of plants must be “at least 500 metres away from first-class landscape resources such as assets of cultural interest, assets of local relevance, natural monuments and protected landscapes, unless the landscape instrument demonstrates that neither the contextualisation nor the perception of these resources is negatively affected by the photovoltaic plant, or that a certain territorial area or specific project has been declared an energy priority and, in this case, the resolution will proceed to establish the distance, which will be at least that established in current legislation on cultural heritage.”
In recent years, these types of facilities have proliferated in the Vega Baja, due to the large expanses of uncultivated undeveloped land, for which the owners are looking for ways to make it profitable. However, its proximity to environments such as the Sierra Escalona area or Las Lagunas de La Mata and Torrevieja have stopped many of them. In these cases, the commitment to renewable energies comes into conflict with the conservation of protected spaces, which must take precedence over other interests, as stated in the resolution.
