The news of the inclusion of 5,000 MW of additional wind capacity in the registry of preliminary assignment of remuneration has also been confirmed to Renewable Energy Magazine’s news team by sources close to the Spanish Association for Renewable Energy Producers (APPA). Another of the major industry associations, the Spanish Wind Energy Association (AEE) has decided not to speculate about the matter, opting instead to say that the sector is still awaiting the official entry in the registry of several thousand additional megawatts on top of the 1,600 MW that were recently added to the registry of preliminary assignment of remuneration.
The registry of preliminary assignment of remuneration was introduced through Royal Decree Law 6/2009 on 7 May this year and obliges all new renewable energy projects to apply for pre-assignment; an essential procedure to obtaining the feed-in tariffs established by Royal Decree 661/2007. In this way, the Ministry of Industry has removed powers from regional governments and takes ultimate responsibility for green lighting new wind farms.
The additional 5,000 MW, which will apparently be pre-assigned this week, will reactivate the Spanish wind sector, after the 1,633 MW that were added to the registry several weeks ago failed to reverse market slowdown since this capacity relates to projects that have already been built or were about to go online and were pending registration in the Electricity Generation Register (REPE).
Developers will have until 2012 to complete their projects if they are to qualify for the feed-in tariff established by Royal Decree 661. The Ministry will split the five GW into 1.7 GW batches per annum, an amount which meets with the demands of the sector. Nonetheless, there are still many projects that were presented for registration but will not be registered because they do not fulfil all the requirements established by Royal Decree Law 6/2009. It still has to be seen whether or not the Ministry will give these projects special treatment or whether they will have to wait until the new 2012-2020 Renewable Energy Plan comes into effect, which Industry expects will be in 2010, along with a new feed-in tariff.p>
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