Catalan govt to kill law slowing down renewables - report

The Catalan government plans to repeal this November a 2009 decree that was halting the growth of the renewables in Catalonia, news agency Efe said Sunday.

The decree in its current form specifies that a call for tender must be launched for wind farms, while solar farms are limited to 6 hectares if they are put up next to industrial parks, and 3 hectares if they border agricultural land.

Head of the Catalan general directorate for energy, Pere Palacin, told Efe that, once the public consultation period is over, the executive branch will approve the annulment of the decree in November, or possibly earlier, after which it will require a rubber stamp from the parliament.

Palacin said that, once the 2009 decree is out of the way, Catalonia should start increasing its wind power capacity by 300 MW-400 MW per year. He expects that the region's solar photovoltaic (PV) fleet will grow at a faster rate, by some 400 MW-500 MW annually.

Catalonia had 1,271 MW of wind and 269 MW of solar power installed at the end of 2018, according to a renewable energy report by Spanish grid operator Red Electrica de Espana (REE).

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