Proposed reforms to renewable energy laws by the Spanish government have been criticised by the Spanish National Energy Commission (CNE).
Arguments offered by CNE in a report include the lack of explanation given for the reforms and the fact that the nature of the reforms is unprecedented in the European Union. The ‘autoconsumo’ law, as it has been dubbed, has already proved controversial and attracted protest from various groups.
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According to the Spanish National Association of Renewable Energy Producers and Investors (ANPIER) endorsing the report, CNE has effectively spoken up in support of small-scale PV producers.
The proposed reforms would affect small-scale generators of PV energy, charging them high fees for grid use which would effectively make self-consumption more expensive than other forms of energy.
CNE criticised the ministry for issuing only a brief report justifying the reforms without providing clear explanation of methodology or the parameters of data collected.
The CNE report also argued that the reforms go against stated economic and environmental aims of renewable energy policy that are in place to externalise costs to the industry of increasing renewable energy production that would otherwise make renewable energy generation prohibitively expensive.
ANPIER president Miguel Angel Martinez-Aroca argued that in backing the reforms, the government is acting “against all parliamentary framework, against the sector regulator, against the sector and against consumers”.
ANPIER further criticised the Spanish energy minister Jose Manuel Soria for publicly stating that energy ministry would not take criticism by CNE into account. Soria’s government was also accused of going against principles he had previously defended while his party were in opposition.
