Claire Wilson
A COMMUNITY group has won a high court battle to give greater environmental protection to an area rich in wildlife.
Residents of Pinares de San Antón urbanisation in Malaga had campaigned to have the patch of land reclassified under Spain’s zoning scheme.
They argued that it should be afforded the same protection as the surrounding Los Montes region, because it was home to similar species of plants and animals.
And following four years of legal wrangling, the High Court of Andalucia has agreed to amend the legislation.
The ruling is the first to successfully challenge Malaga’s zoning laws since they were introduced in 2009.
Does that mean no windmills or solar panels ?
They are turbines, not windmills. They make electricity, not flour. How come turbines are seemingly more visible than pylons, with their festoons of wires?
No point in having solar panels as the government now plan to charge (tax) homeowners who install them. Spain with no brain in action yet again.
Indeed Fred,
most of southern Spain could generate sufficient electricity from solar and wind. Build houses properly from the correct materials and the need for electricity drops significantly.
There are major developments happening right now in both PV and wind turbines – a major breakthrough in PV panels,doubling the power o/put and halving the cost of manufacture has been acheived by a small company in upstate New York. A Japanese (why am I not surprised) professor after studying the wings of dragonflies has created a radical new design of turbine blade that will generate electricity with the slightest breeze.
Producing electricity at point of use has one huge advantage – no distribution or maintenance costs, of course you could build more nuclear power stations but if you ask the Japanese people they will tell you that’s not a good idea.
Taxing those who use PV or solar – only the Spanish could think that one up.
A windmill is a type of turbine. As is a waterwheel. And they are very tall and very white. Why is this ? Why are they not painted a grey-blue. Electricity pylons are thin and grey and have a broken outline so are less visible. You can effectively see though them.
. .” . most of southern Spain could generate sufficient electricity from solar and wind. ” Except on a still cold night.
There is also power from waves, especially on the Atlantic coast. There is geo-thermal energy. Huge amounts of gas can be recovered from waste. This should be burned in household combined heat and power units, thus cutting loss on long-scale wire deliveries. (about twenty-percent loss from conventional power stations). Future requirements will come from a mixture of these and developments yet to come. One way or another, we change or perish. Niggling about the appearance of devices, doesn’t really contribute to solving what is probably the greatest threat we face.
I don’t think the government plans to charge people for the new solar tax if they live off grid altogether. Just people living on grid that could put solar energy back into the system. It must still be cheaper to have solar panels even though Spain is taxing the SUN. A new law is coming out soon taxing you if you breathe out too heavily.