Europe has warned the Spanish Government that the retrospective reductions in the “primas” for photovoltaic energy are illegal.
The EU Commissioner for Energy, Gunther Oettinger, has pronounced the retrospective cuts “incorrect” because “they could have a negative influence on the production of energy.”
The cuts have affect all renewable energies.
These declarations will be music to the ears of the local businesses and farmers who claim that, due to the 30% cut, they will lose 83 million euros and 500 jobs in the region.
There are 7,000 solar energy installations in the region and the majority of those are small businesses or farmers who may now find this latest reduction in benefits renders their installations uneconomic, claims Santiago Martinez, President of the Federation of Farming Cooperatives in Murcia and Pedro Lencina, President of the farming organization COAG.
In November last year the “prima”, the quantity of solar energy that can be “sold” to the electricity network , was slashed by 25% and last month the Government announced a further retrospective cut of 30% .
Central Government justifies the cuts as necessary to avoid another “boom and bust” industry by curbing the profits being made from solar energy.
