Compromís per Alcalà i Alcossebre reaches municipal agreement to implement local energy communities
The agreement also includes a commitment to revise the PGOU to limit the areas in which energy parks can be created and the maximum extension of the same in the municipality.
![[Img #82319]](http://el7set.es/upload/images/06_2021/6729_maria-sorli.jpg)
The plenary session of the Alcalà de Xivert Town Council on 26 May unanimously approved the initiative presented by the Compromís group to promote a change in the local energy model through local energy communities.
The Compromís group has repeatedly expressed the need to implement municipal initiatives that are aligned with the policies of the European Union regarding climate change, which were specified in 2019 in a document known as the Green Deal or European Green Pact, which aims, among other objectives, to reduce CO2 emissions by 55% by 2030. An ambitious task that requires the collaboration of everyone, especially public institutions, because to achieve this milestone it is necessary to start by changing the energy model in the municipalities, something to which this group has been committed from the beginning, according to its spokesperson, and which is justified in the Plan "Municipis en xarxa" of the Generalitat Valenciana, to which Alcalà i Alcossebre Town Council adhered, "in the same way that it joined the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, thanks to the initiative of Compromís", says María Sorlí. This agreement is part of a larger strategy, launched by the Generalitat Valenciana, which is one of the largest global movements of local action for decarbonisation. "Our group has set as one of its priority objectives to advance in concrete actions against climate change, which is why we have presented several motions, such as the Declaration of Climate Emergency in 2019 or the Adhesion to the Covenant of Mayors and Development of the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan in 2020, which cannot remain a mere declaration of intentions, but must be translated into concrete actions", reiterates Sorlí.
Recent press articles state that our regions are threatened by very high voltage lines (EHV lines), such as the one currently planned between Morella and Almassora. Solar and wind farms are also planned for Alcalà, which would not only lead to irreversible landscape and environmental degradation, but would also give way to speculation on rural land by large corporate groups. According to statements made by the town planning councillor of Alcalà i Alcossebre, any land that is not marked as suited for urban development and has not been declared a Natural Park is currently suitable for a wind farm or photovoltaic park. According to the same councillor, the town council has received requests for information for planning to install 6 solar farms and 2 wind farms.
Precisely to avoid this scenario, the Valencian Institute for Business Competitiveness, through IVACE energy, announced the second edition of the line of aid to promote local photovoltaic self-consumption installations, which is specifically aimed at energy communities, communities of owners and town councils, financing up to 65% of the cost of electricity self-consumption installations of those councils that prioritise renewable energies in local energy communities. These are key to the energy transition, according to councillor Rafael Climent, since through them citizens will become producers and consumers, thus generating economic, environmental and social benefits in their respective municipalities.
In this line, Compromís presented an ambitious motion that was approved by unanimity at the plenary session on 26 May, in which it urged the council to fully commit to the Local Energy Communities. Although the City Council is committed to fulfilling this agreement in the long term, in the short term it will begin to be implemented in municipal buildings, since its full implementation would require a prior amendment of the PGOU, which the government team was also in favour of. The points of the agreement signed by all the municipal groups can be summarised as follows:
1. Positioning of the Alcalà-Alcossebre Town Council against photovoltaic and wind power macro-projects.
2. Commitment to an immediate change of energy model based on local renewable energies.
3. Compliance with the agreements of the "Municipis en xarxa" Plan to promote renewable energies and self-consumption, to which Alcalà-Alcossebre Town Council has already adhered.
4. Creation of two Municipal Energy Communities, starting with municipal buildings, taking advantage of IVACE aid and synergies with the GV.
5. Alcalà i Alcossebre Town Council undertakes to revise the PGOU, so that this new situation is taken into account, thus defining which areas of our municipality are suitable for the installation of energy parks, taking into account the protection of those that have landscape and environmental value in terms of flora and fauna and agricultural value, establishing a maximum total territory to be used for this purpose in our municipality.
6. Petition by the Alcalà-Alcossebre Town Council to the Generalitat Valenciana, Central Government and European Union for a greater boost in the creation of Local Energy Communities and their positioning against photovoltaic and wind power macro-projects.
7. Transmission of the agreed points to the Generalitat Valenciana, the central government and the European Union.
"We are not catastrophists, but realists, climate change is a fact, the international scientific community says so. The European Union has assumed its responsibility, the municipalities must do the same", concludes María Sorlí.
The plenary session of the Alcalà de Xivert Town Council on 26 May unanimously approved the initiative presented by the Compromís group to promote a change in the local energy model through local energy communities.
The Compromís group has repeatedly expressed the need to implement municipal initiatives that are aligned with the policies of the European Union regarding climate change, which were specified in 2019 in a document known as the Green Deal or European Green Pact, which aims, among other objectives, to reduce CO2 emissions by 55% by 2030. An ambitious task that requires the collaboration of everyone, especially public institutions, because to achieve this milestone it is necessary to start by changing the energy model in the municipalities, something to which this group has been committed from the beginning, according to its spokesperson, and which is justified in the Plan "Municipis en xarxa" of the Generalitat Valenciana, to which Alcalà i Alcossebre Town Council adhered, "in the same way that it joined the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, thanks to the initiative of Compromís", says María Sorlí. This agreement is part of a larger strategy, launched by the Generalitat Valenciana, which is one of the largest global movements of local action for decarbonisation. "Our group has set as one of its priority objectives to advance in concrete actions against climate change, which is why we have presented several motions, such as the Declaration of Climate Emergency in 2019 or the Adhesion to the Covenant of Mayors and Development of the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan in 2020, which cannot remain a mere declaration of intentions, but must be translated into concrete actions", reiterates Sorlí.
Recent press articles state that our regions are threatened by very high voltage lines (EHV lines), such as the one currently planned between Morella and Almassora. Solar and wind farms are also planned for Alcalà, which would not only lead to irreversible landscape and environmental degradation, but would also give way to speculation on rural land by large corporate groups. According to statements made by the town planning councillor of Alcalà i Alcossebre, any land that is not marked as suited for urban development and has not been declared a Natural Park is currently suitable for a wind farm or photovoltaic park. According to the same councillor, the town council has received requests for information for planning to install 6 solar farms and 2 wind farms.
Precisely to avoid this scenario, the Valencian Institute for Business Competitiveness, through IVACE energy, announced the second edition of the line of aid to promote local photovoltaic self-consumption installations, which is specifically aimed at energy communities, communities of owners and town councils, financing up to 65% of the cost of electricity self-consumption installations of those councils that prioritise renewable energies in local energy communities. These are key to the energy transition, according to councillor Rafael Climent, since through them citizens will become producers and consumers, thus generating economic, environmental and social benefits in their respective municipalities.
In this line, Compromís presented an ambitious motion that was approved by unanimity at the plenary session on 26 May, in which it urged the council to fully commit to the Local Energy Communities. Although the City Council is committed to fulfilling this agreement in the long term, in the short term it will begin to be implemented in municipal buildings, since its full implementation would require a prior amendment of the PGOU, which the government team was also in favour of. The points of the agreement signed by all the municipal groups can be summarised as follows:
1. Positioning of the Alcalà-Alcossebre Town Council against photovoltaic and wind power macro-projects.
2. Commitment to an immediate change of energy model based on local renewable energies.
3. Compliance with the agreements of the "Municipis en xarxa" Plan to promote renewable energies and self-consumption, to which Alcalà-Alcossebre Town Council has already adhered.
4. Creation of two Municipal Energy Communities, starting with municipal buildings, taking advantage of IVACE aid and synergies with the GV.
5. Alcalà i Alcossebre Town Council undertakes to revise the PGOU, so that this new situation is taken into account, thus defining which areas of our municipality are suitable for the installation of energy parks, taking into account the protection of those that have landscape and environmental value in terms of flora and fauna and agricultural value, establishing a maximum total territory to be used for this purpose in our municipality.
6. Petition by the Alcalà-Alcossebre Town Council to the Generalitat Valenciana, Central Government and European Union for a greater boost in the creation of Local Energy Communities and their positioning against photovoltaic and wind power macro-projects.
7. Transmission of the agreed points to the Generalitat Valenciana, the central government and the European Union.
"We are not catastrophists, but realists, climate change is a fact, the international scientific community says so. The European Union has assumed its responsibility, the municipalities must do the same", concludes María Sorlí.
