Spain Goes Dark for Solar

The spanish government has 26 Billion Euro debt to fossil energy companies, so it allows itself and its people to become a slave to it.

Solar is a saviour for Spain. It has large solar power plants, solar towers and really amazing potential. On top of that it is hot and dry, it suffers from the higher average temperatures so that it should be strongly against the use of more fossil fuels. However it has shown weakness politically in the past, and has been forced by the banking system to take the actions that sustain the financial sector at the cost of the country and its people. For instance it has been forced to shut down solar power plants as to protect the value of gas based power, in order to repay the cost of building new gas pipelines!

“The situation is naturally upsetting for the utility giants that invested in the plants. According to published figures, they are paying €13,000 per megawatt for operations and maintenance of the facilities, plus a further €24,000 per megawatt in pipeline tolls. But it is also distressing for the rest of the country, since Spain is currently shelling out €1.5 billion a year in capacity payments to have the plants contracted to stay on the grid, says elEconomista.”

So the suggestion is to shut down up and running low maintenance and zero fuel price solar power plants!!

Yes, this energy system is really smart. NOT

Royal decree to protect gas/grid based electricity

Now in another blow to the advent of solar wealth the government has decided to tax energy storage. The motivation is that it interferes with ‘net-balance’. Net-balance is the process of having to match the power delivered to the grid during the day with fossil fuel generated power in the evening, because solar production doesn’t match electricity consumption. This is exactly the problem solved efficiently by storage, for instance in new Tesla Powerwall. People now have to connect to the grid or pay tax.

“With the reform, who install solar will take 31 years to repay it , according to the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF).”

Spain has about 7 million citizens unable to pay the energy bill, so it should work to drive renewables and storage because that is the most cost effective way to generate electricity at least. 4 million spanish people say they can’t keep their houses warm enough in the winter. It also has solar dependent airco demand, just like California, for which solar power plants have been used for more than 30 years now. Instead, now, by royal decree (sounds pretty undemocratic as well) it sends itself back to the dark ages of fossil fuel.

This undemocratic royal decree is fought by the political parties:

“the majority of political parties have signed their commitment to the development of consumption without discriminatory barriers and have pledged to repeal the Royal Decree of consumption currently in process of being approved.” (source)