UPDATE OFFICIAL - Spain's govt unblocks 27.9 GW of renewables in Jan

February 1 (Renewables Now) - The Spanish ministry for the ecological transition reviewed environmental impact studies for 35.8 GW of renewable energy projects ahead of the legal deadline on January 25, giving its approval to 27.9 GW from this group.

In a press release on Tuesday, the ministry said it had evaluated 202 files and found that 154 of the projects deserved a favourable environment impact assessment (EIA), 36 received an unfavourable EIA, while the proceedings for the remaining 12 was terminated.

The figures differ from those widely reported by the media in Spain, which stated that the ministry issued 170 favourable EIAs, 22 unfavourable ones and terminated nine in the accelerated effort to overcome the paperwork bottleneck and approve proposals for hundreds of renewables before January 25.

According to the official tally, 35,879 MW of projects were evaluated by the ministry. Of those, 27,943 MW received a favourable EIA, which enables them to move forward with the permitting process. In this group are 132 solar PV projects totalling 24,752 MW, 20 wind projects totalling 2,897 MW and two hybrid projects with 294 MW combined.

If they successfully complete the remaining permitting procedures, these renewables will pop up all over mainland Spain except in the northern region of Asturias, according to the ministry’s map.

The ministry for the ecological transition is in charge of issuing permits for energy projects of 50 MW and above, those that will have infrastructure cross borders of autonomous regions and those sited in Spain’s territorial waters. The full results of how much renewables were greenlit by regional governments across the mainland and the islands of Spain, which process permits for projects of below 50 MW, have not yet been released.