The Spanish Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Commerce has presented to the Government Council the (probably) definitive draft of the new Feeding in-Law for Renewable Energies in Spain

Madrid, Spain, 17 April 2007. On 26 March 2007, the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce presented the Spanish Council of State (“Consejo de Estado”) with what is expected to be the final draft of the new Power Supply Act for renewable energy.

The following is an overview of the draft:


1. Power Input Fees

a) Amount of fees

The draft law establishes a power input fee of 44.0381 euro cents per kilowatt hour for network feed-in solar power plants with a power rating of up to 100 kW for the first 25 years of operations.

This corresponds exactly to the current power input fee under Royal Decree 436/2004.

Therefore, there is no increase in the power input fee for 2007. However, the draft law allows for the principle of protection of public confidence, since the fee amount for plants of up to 100kW of rated power are not reduced.

Finally, the draft law retains the formula from Royal Decree 436/2004 for determining the power rating for purposes of classification in the various fee categories. Consequently, it will still not be possible in the future to reach the fee of 44.0381 euro cents per kilowatt hour by using individual transformers for each 100kW plant. Evidently, legislators do not wish to interfere in ongoing projects in this respect.


b) Fee group > 100 kW < 10 MW

For network feed-in solar power plants with a power rating of up to 10MW that do not fall under the first fee group (plants up to 100kW), the power input fee is set at 41.75 euro cents per kilowatt hour.
Consequently, an alternative to the so-called “huertas solares” is established, namely avoiding the division into 100kW units and thus sparing the cost of individual transformers and individual companies for each 100kW plant. This makes it significantly easier for German companies to invest in solar plants in Spain.


c) Periodic review of fee

The fee is increased annually – first in 2008 – by the inflation index minus 25 percentage points, and minus 50 percentage points starting in 2013.


2. Maximum limit for the upper power input fee

For network feed-in solar power plants, the draft law includes a maximum limit of 371MW of installed capacity. In addition, the upper power input fee is no longer allowed. The evolution of installed capacity is monitored by way of mandatory registration of each connected power plant in a central administrative register for the special fee system.

As soon as 85% of the maximum limit is reached, the aforementioned Ministry establishes a transitional period within which all connected power plants may still claim the upper power input fee. The transitional period may not exceed 12 months.


3. Bank Guarantee to Apply for the Network Supply Entry Point

According to the draft law regulations, a guarantee in an amount that is 3% above the total construction costs, including modules, must be furnished in order to be assigned a network supply entry point. Otherwise, the application for assignment of an entry point will not be processed by the network operator.

4. Entry into Force and Final Regulations

The new regulations enter into effect the day after they are announced in the Spanish Federal Gazette (“Boletín Oficial del Estado”). Transitional rules are foreseen for special circumstances, but these do not concern the solar power industry in any way.

The current fee regulations under Royal Decree 436/2004 will be fully suppressed by the new regulations, i.e. the former are annulled when the new regulations take effect.

Newer regulations have been announced for 2010, including one governing the upper limit for installed capacity.

The Spanish Council of State has once again set a deadline of two business days (!) for the most important interest groups of the renewable energy industry to comment on the draft. Resubmission of the draft to the National Energy Commission is not expected. In fact, it can be assumed that the new regulations will be approved shortly by the government.

Madrid, 23 April 2007


Publication and Reproduction permitted; please send a specimen copy to DIKEOS Abogados.


Attention editorial offices: For further questions please contact Mr.
Richard Wicke, DIKEOS Abogados.

Marqués de Urquijo 11, 1-B
28003 Madrid

Fon: (+34) 91 548 83 96
Fax: (+34) 91 541 10 04
E-Mail: rwicke@dikeos.com target=_blank>rwicke@dikeos.com
Internet: http://www.dikeos.com

Sprache:

Online-Pressemappe - alle Pressemitteilungen der DIKEOS Abogados | RSS-Feed abonnieren

---

Pressebilder nur für die redaktionelle Verwendung
Hinweis: Für den Inhalt der Pressemitteilung ist der Emittent / Herausgeber der Meldung »DIKEOS Abogados« verantwortlich.