Portugal is seen as an attractive destination for those seeking low-priced renewable energy, but delays and licensing hurdles are leaving some developers on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Especially when it is the same State that wants to accelerate projects that also slow them down.
After three dam projects located in the Peneda-Gerês Park failed in the environmental evaluation phase (two from Finerge and one from EDP), the president of Finerge issued the warning: “No one comes to settle here with all the difficulties “licensing”. Pedro Norton’s outburst occurred during a debate on the great challenges of renewable energies held within the framework of the conference promoted by APREN (Portuguese Association of Renewable Energies) on November 4 and 5 in Lisbon.
EDP, Endesa, Finerge and Voltalia incorporate floating solar energy in their dams
Finerge, one of the main producers of renewable energy in Portugal, won three lots in the competition for the allocation of floating solar energy on several dams, held in 2022. The developer started the licensing process and within weeks The Portuguese Agency of the Environment (APA) rejected two of the winning projects in the auction “due to the location of the project.”
And this place, the Peneda-Gerês National Park, “was the only thing we did not decide.” It was the State who decided and put it up for auction, asking who could give the most. But after being awarded the connection to the electrical grid, it was “the State itself that decided that it was not possible there. Is there a more illustrative example of the unpredictability of licensing? A rhetorical question to which the manager himself responds: “It is of no use to us to have the best laws and regulations if the agents are unpredictable in their application.”
In the previous panel of the same conference, led by environmental licensing entities, a question addressed to the president of the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) about the legal basis of these was left unanswered (due to lack of time). negative opinions that were decisive in the unfavorable APA pronunciation.
Questioned by the Observer after the debate, ICNF president Nuno Banza explained that the institute had no alternative in these cases but to respect the law and issue a negative opinion. This opinion is the main basis for the unfavorable assessment issued by the APA to the two Finerge centers. The installation of floating solar plants in the Paradela and Salomonde dams goes against the legal framework of the Peneda-Gerês National Park, which only allows interventions in existing developments.
Regarding the fact that the tendered areas in the aforementioned dams were previously marked by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) for this purpose, Nuno Banza affirms that the ICNF was not previously consulted about the choice of the areas/dams that They were selected by the State to receive these projects awarded through competition.
According to the former Secretary of State for Energy who was in charge when these tenders were launched, João Galamba, it was the APA itself who chose the dams to be included in the 2022 auction, who defined the lots and who prepared the auction documents. The APA’s leadership in these two projects was harshly criticized by Galamba in posts on Linkedin.
The tender consisted of the allocation of rights for the private use of water resources and the reservation of injection capacity in the electrical network, and was in charge of the Portuguese Environment Agency and the General Directorate of Energy and Geology (DGEG). . These two bodies are supervised by the Ministry of Environment and Energy, as is the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests. Finerge continues to evaluate the next steps to take regarding environmental lead
In a clarification already made in this regard, APA explains that despite being the competent authority to issue the EIA (Environmental Impact Declaration), “this decision is linked to the sectoral decisions and opinions issued within the framework of the AIA procedure. [Avaliação de Impacte Ambiental]in this particular case, to the opinion issued by the ICNF, the national nature conservation authority and the entity responsible for the management of the Peneda-Gerês National Park and the application of the respective Planning Plan.”
According to the DIA, the unfavorable opinion of the ICNF is based on the finding that the project constitutes a prohibited activity, in accordance with paragraph d) of article 7 of the Management Plan of the Peneda-Gerês National Park, approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers. no. 11-A/2011, of February 4 and rectified by Rectification Declaration no. 10-A/2011, April 5.
The environmental decision also indicates “that the results of the consultations promoted within the scope of this EIA procedure, which show a clear opposition to the implementation of the project, considering that it should have been rejected outright given its overlap with the National Park of Peneda – Gerês, with the Peneda-Gerês Special Conservation Zone (PTCON0001), with the GerêsXurés Transfrontier Biosphere Reserve and with the Ecological Corridors of ‘Entre Douro e Minho’ – ‘Gerês’ and ‘Cabreira’”.
This involves the installation and operation of two floating solar plants in the mirrors of the Paradela and Salomonde dams, in the municipalities of Vieira do Minho and Montalegre, associated with hybrid wind projects.
During the debate, the president of the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) highlighted that it makes no sense to approve packages to simplify renewable energy licensing rules without having a transversal vision and looking at the system as a whole. This may require changing legislation in other areas and giving in to some things in the name of a goal that is considered a higher priority.
Without referring to the case of power plants, Nuno Banza gave as an example the legislation on protected trees such as cork oaks and holm oaks. A project that has a favorable environmental impact statement (DIA) and in which the ICNF has already been consulted, but that involves the felling of these trees – which requires compensation measures with the planting of new ones – must re-apply opinion to ICNF. on the application of these compensation measures.
The ICNF president also highlighted that the majority of renewable energy projects are approved, only a minority fail. And he regretted the existence of narratives that seek to ridicule environmental impact assessment processes, focusing on very specific and specific aspects.
“The ICNF technician does not live isolated in the world. “You’re not in a bubble sitting around waiting for projects to fail.”
Source: Observadora
