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Manuel Cabezas grew up surrounded by olive timber. Like each different household within the Andalusian village of Lopera in southern Spain, his dad and mom, grandparents and great-grandparents had taught him that this iconic Mediterranean crop was probably the most beneficial funding he may make. So, with retirement in thoughts, he used his financial savings to purchase two and a half hectares of land on which to plant 400 olive timber.
“Here, we spend money on what we all know,” he says. “Not in flats or funding plans we do not perceive.”
However, Cabezas is now nervous that his funding and efforts might have been in useless. Like dozens of different farmers and small landowners within the space, he acquired a letter final summer season from the Junta de Andalucía (the regional authorities), informing him that his land was to be expropriated. This is as a result of Greenalia, a Spanish renewable power firm with investments in a number of European international locations and the United States, plans to construct as much as seven photovoltaic parks on the location of the olive groves — a undertaking that the Junta de Andalucía has declared to be of public curiosity because of its contribution to the power transition.
The press workplace of the Delegation of Economy and Industry in Jaén knowledgeable Voxeurop that “the Electricity Sector Law, which applies all through Spain, obliges regional administrations to course of purposes for a Declaration of Public Utility (expropriations) for electrical energy installations when the promoter and the proprietor can not attain an settlement”. Of the whole variety of renewable power tasks processed by the Andalusian regional authorities in recent times, solely 0.88% have required a declaration of public utility.
Spain is shifting away from fossil fuels quicker than many different EU international locations and accelerating its path in direction of local weather neutrality by 2050 by switching to its plentiful renewable assets, significantly wind and solar energy. According to the state-owned firm Red Eléctrica, almost 57% of the nation’s power consumption got here from renewable sources in 2024. This demonstrates Spain’s robust dedication to lowering climate-altering emissions in keeping with EU local weather objectives. Solar power consumption rose by 19% over the past yr alone. However, the increase in large-scale photo voltaic tasks usually has a adverse affect on rural communities, significantly in Andalusia, the place most of Spain’s olive oil is produced.
“Nobody cares about us,” says María Mena, a Loperana who comes from a protracted line of olive growers. “The power they’re going to produce shouldn’t be for Lopera.” But the land is cheaper right here, she concludes.
