Three solar and renewable energy associations requested Spanish parliamentarians to revoke the government’s decision to cut feed-in tariff rates for existing solar photovoltaic power plants during next week’s plenary session.
The Photovoltaic Business Association, the Photovoltaic Industry Association and the Association of Renewable Energy Producers asked the Parliament to look into the serious detriments of the Royal Decree 14/2010 such as wave of bankruptcies during its plenary session from January 24 to January 25.
This request is part of the associations’ sustained campaign against the royal decree, which was adopted by the Council of Ministers in December last year.
The groups released a manifesto almost two weeks ago after the adoption, stressing the importance of feed-in tariffs to the Spanish solar industry and the whole economy. Last week, the groups also challenged the decision in the Supreme Court with reports of discriminatory action and breach of the guaranteed tariff deals with solar plants.
They questioned the real intentions of the government in supporting the renewable energy sector because the government amended the law four times already in less than four years. The government’s decision was under its course toward stabilizing the electricity system despite its guaranteed tariffs for 25 years.
The government cut subsidies given to about 50,000 existing solar plants by 30 percent and placed a limit on the number of hours of subsidized generation that solar plants can sell to the grid. Doing so will risk its capacity to service 20 billion euros ($26.98 billion) in debt and affect the confidence of more than 200,000 investors in the Spanish solar industry.
Even without the law, the solar industry is already experiencing restrictive regulations and distrust, leading to regulatory uncertainty in the business climate, the associations pointed out.
