Spain’s government reduces the Concentrating Solar Power revenue by more than 30%

The package of measures adopted by the spanish government in recent weeks, with the general tax of 7%, the elimination of the premium to the share attributable to gas, which in the investment analysis was considered “a whole” with the premium and the removal of the option premium pool + approved today by the Council of Ministers, representing a cumulative impact over 30% reduction in income and puts solar thermal projects in default situation.

It is surprising to hear the Prime Minister claim legal certainty Spanish investments abroad when otherwise practiced in our country.

It is also sad to hear as justification, in the press conference after the Council of Ministers, that these cuts in the renewable sector (and particularly in the Concentrated Solar Power) are not up to the public light, when the extent of tax generation was automatically passed on to the ordinary regime.

Luis Crespo, General Secretary of Protermosolar, the Spanish association of CSP companies, has stated after the announcement of these new measures. Crespo claims the CSP sector is “helpless and with no capacity to appeal” and assured that international funds that invested in CSP in Spain are puzzled and can’t believe these movements by the Spanish government.

Luis Crespo regrets that the Government has not talked with them and says it has only shown a lack of respect to the sector. “The result is the Government has devastated the CSP sector in Spain, an industry that could have been a flagship for the whole country, now is definitely torn apart”.

If the Ministry seeks to reduce the costs of electrical system why not put, for example, a rate to the nuclear and large hydro?

References that seems to handle the Ministry on the profitability of solar thermal power plants correspond to the distorted information utilities as opposed to its development recently has been able to meet the high provisions made by Siemens of its solar business in Spain or that the only central ownership of a large Spanish utility has high losses accumulated since its entry into operation several years ago.

It is outrageous that such measures will improvise without a financial report to assess the consequences in a sector with annual contributions to the GDP of 2000 billion euros in recent years and 25,000 workers.

We can not understand how the government destroyed a sector like the Concentrating Solar Power neither been nor will be responsible for tariff deficit and had placed our country at the forefront of an industry with huge expectations worldwide. This measure would have curtailed the capacity of solar thermal companies for internationalization and to maintain its technological leadership position.