Spain’s PM promises law letting residents choose location of solar, wind farms
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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised on Friday to allow local residents to decide where solar parks and wind farms are located, while handing them a share in the profits, if his Socialist Party (PSOE) wins this month’s general election.
Many planned photovoltaic parks and wind farms in the country are being delayed by protests from people living nearby, making it one of the election’s hot-button issues.
“We will pass a law that involves local residents in choosing the location of photovoltaic and wind farms, allowing them to participate directly in the co-ownership of up to 10% of the profits they generate,” Sanchez told a PSOE event in Madrid in which he outlined the party’s election manifesto.
The opposition People’s Party (PP), which is leading opinion polls, said in its own manifesto unveiled on Tuesday that it would introduce a fee on renewable energy projects to pay for the administrative costs tied to them.
In September 2022, the mayors of 70 towns in the southern Andalusia region signed a letter urging the regional government to increase transparency and improve planning in such projects, saying the proliferation of solar panels and wind turbines was altering the rural landscape.
