Professionals and trade associations in the PV sector have filed many a petition to the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade asking for changes to the current legislation governing their sector, and have analysed in conjunction with Spain’s grid operator, Red Eléctrica Española, and the Comissión Nacional de Energía, the regulatory body for Spain's energy systems, what role Royal Decree 1578/08 has had in bringing the PV sector to its knees.
It is evident that the sector has not ground to a halt for no apparent reason. Statistics and changes in the number of projects involving solar plants to generate electricity to sell on the open market since Royal Decree 1578/08 was enacted clearly show that this law is the driving force behind this atrophy.
Nevertheless, optimism has been raised after Spain’s President Zapatero publicly declared last week in response to a request by the Second Vice-president of Castille and Leon and Regional Minster of the Economy and Employment, Tomás Villanueva, that he is committed to reviewing the PV solar legislation if necessary.
The PV sector was given a further boost when President Zapatero announced recently that the Law for a Sustainable Economy (Ley de Economía Sostenible) that his government is currently preparing will also include a fund of €20,000 million to finance innovation, technology, renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.
The message the Spanish government is giving out both domestically and at an international level is positive, with politicians visiting and attending many PV installations and political leaders who are actively involved in the sector. However, the truth is that the current legislative framework is causing professionals in the sector (developers, installers and manufacturers alike) to flee Spain, investors to look to elsewhere to invest their money, and banks to think twice before offering up credit for new projects in Spain.
The current regulatory stopgap has caused Spain to lose its PV leadership status after experiencing levels of growth which have astonished the world, and unless Zapatero and his government can reverse the damage done by Royal Decree 1578/08, the sector will continue to suffer from an unstable legal framework which does not offer players in the sector the confidence and security they need to move forward.
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