Brussels has stepped in to support the campaign of the President of the regional government, Ramón Luis Valcarcel, against the reduction of financial benefits for natural energy producers introduced by central government in December.
Valcarcel had proposed appealing against the Royal Decree (14/2010) approved by the Government in December last year as “unconstitutional.” The regional Government Committee has given its seal of approval to the President’s appeal and now the European Commissioners for Energy and Action against China, Gunther Oettinger and Connie Hedegard, have reproached the Spanish Government for the application of retroactive measures on the primas (energy sold back to the national grid) for solar photovoltaic energy.
Both commissioners have signed a letter which also states: “member states have committed themselves to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 20% in 2020 and to increase the use of renewable energies.
Valcarcel argues that the measure to limit the hours of production of solar energy “especially prejudices the region of Murcia” where some 20,000 small farmers have invested in solar energy but were unable to make the payments on loans for installation as a result of the cuts in financial benefits.
