Dilip Kuner
ELEVEN solar power plants generating 361 megawatts of clean energy are planned for Murcia in the coming years.
They will cost between €250 million and €300 million and prevent 28,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, providing enough power for tens of thousands of homes.
These plants will be in addition to ones due to open in Murcia this year.
The news was revealed by solar power company Soltec, which, working with Total Solar, will install the plants.
Executive director of Soltec, Raúl Morales, met the president of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, and the Minister of Development and Infrastructure, José Ramón Díez de Revenga, to present the project, which will create 760 direct jobs during its construction.
In an online press conference he explained that these new plants are part of a nationwide agreement to build solar farms with a total capacity of between 800 and 1,000 megawatts.
In addition, he welcomed reforms introduced in a recent royal decree on the mitigation of the effects of COVID-19 in the field of photovoltaics. This allows administrative procedures to be streamlined, shortening project processing times.
The average processing time for this type of plant has been around two years to sort out the paperwork. Thanks to the new decree, this period will be reduced by between six months and a year, making investment in this type of project much more attractive.
Díez de Revenga emphasised the importance of speeding up procedures that allow businesses and individuals to put money into a more sustainable economy.
The new decree, he said, is very helpful as it clarifies the requirements for photovoltaic plants to be included in urban planning.
Up until now the regulations were subject to differing interpretations by local authorities. This meant solar companies were left uncertain of all the requirements they would have to meet before the planning process started.
