Padul Town Hall is battling it out with a renewable energy company Altano Energy over the installation of two solar parks in the municipality.

The Junta  decided a while back that projects of public interest are within their remit and not that of the municipality where they would be installed. This includes wind farms, solar parks and even, controversially, water-bottling plants.

This posture has both Padul and Dúrcal between a rock and a hard place because of popular opposition amongst their citizens.

The latest contention concerns the proposed Jesús and Santa María photovoltaic park – one of six renewable projects (solar and wind) the Altano Energy company has underway in the province of Granada.

Municipal authorisation is the final step towards breaking ground on a plant that began its administrative processing in 2021. After numerous modifications to reduce its environmental impact and adapt to the local landscape, the project now holds all environmental and administrative authorisations, along with the legal ‘blessings”’of the Junta de Andalucía.

This municipal licence was expected to be a mere legal formality, but the Mayor is digging her heels in. However, once all reports from higher administrations are in place, the Town Council has to grant the building permit within three months.

The developers are so frustrated by this delay tactic that they have gone to court over it

The Mayor of Padul, Celia Villena, is determined to stand up to new projects and use every legal weapon at her disposal to prevent them from being built in the municipality. Meanwhile, the company describes the situation as a “legal outrage,” claiming they are suffering millions in losses due to the delay.

“These three months of delay have already cost us millions in damages, and the situation worsens every day,” Altano representatives stated.

They’re running on two different interpretations of the calender, though. The energy company is counting the delay from November when they first submitted the project to the Junta, whereas the town Hall is counting it since February; when they received the project’s declaration of public utility from the Junta. Consequently, the Mayor considers that they are still within the legal timeframe to study the licence and intend to do so with a magnifying glass.

The Mayor explained her posture: “It is one thing for me to want to preserve my territory from an accumulation of terrible projects, but if the law says everything is correct, I will have to grant the license, much to my regret. I will not commit malfeasance, nor will I exceed the legal deadline.” 

She added, “The Junta took years to process the project and now the company is in a hurry, but we aren’t going to rush. We will study every detail to ensure they meet all requirements and that 100% of our the land being occupied is actually covered by the declaration of public utility. If we didn’t do that, we would also be committing malfeasance.”

So where do they want to build the solar plants? The Santa María and Jesús solar plants are planned for an area near the La Cabra road in Padul. Together, they have a generating capacity of 47 MW, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 26,000 homes. 

Padul considers that it has reached a breaking point. They feel the territory is oversaturated with renewable projects and are currently facing a ‘deluge’ of requests to expand existing parks through hybridisation.

“We are not against renewable projects, but we believe our municipality has too many on the table, to the point where they overlap, reasoned the Mayor. 

On the other hand, opposition spokesperson Pedro Francisco Fernández Arias (PP) abstained, reminding the council that appeals against the Junta’s permits “have very little chance of succeeding—less than 5%.” It is worth noting that his party governs the Junta de Andalucia…

(News: Padul, Valle de Lecrín, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: Solar Park Battle, Mayor, Santa María, Jesús, Junta de Andalucia, Municipal Licence

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