Haven't you found out yet? Moratorium on renewable energy installations in La Rioja

Law 1/2024, of 24 January, temporary and urgent measures for renewable energy installations in La Rioja (for the protection of the landscape)

The government of La Rioja, by this law published in the Official State Gazette on February 13, approves a moratorium on renewable energy installations. In this regard, the law itself indicates:

“The proliferation of these elements without prior planning constitutes a distorting element of the forests, mountains, fields and valleys typical of our autonomous community, where agricultural and livestock farms coexist with natural landscapes and other unique elements of the spatial environment that surrounds us.”

This moratorium is established until a map is previously designed that sets out the most ideal places for its installation, “respecting the environmental, tourist, cultural, heritage, agricultural and landscape values of the territory”. This map should be developed in the Landscape law of La Rioja, pending approval, as indicated in the development of the Act itself.

“The Government of La Rioja has already begun the necessary procedures for the approval of the La Rioja Landscape Act, which will protect, manage and organize the Rioja landscape, but the environmental planning and evaluation process is not immediate and that is why it is appropriate to apply a moratorium on the authorization and declaration of public utility of such facilities, insofar as an orderly, efficient and respectful transition with all environmental and social values is planned and agreed upon”

Therefore, the Law 1/2024, of 24 January establishes a suspension of:

1. Administrative procedures for authorizing renewable generation facilities under regional competence (art. 1), which would entail the stoppage of energy production projects for regional processing

2. The procedures for authorizing uses and activities on undeveloped land (art. 2). In this case, it would also affect national projects, by suspending the urban planning process that is also necessary for this type of project.

Therefore, only self-consumption projects will be exempt, as indicated in article 3 of the law.

El scenery It is a fundamental variable to consider when evaluating the impacts of this type of facility and it is the intention of the Government of La Rioja, given its value and potential for the economic development of wine tourism and sustainable tourism, to provide it with greater protection through the mentioned landscape law. In this regard, comment that the Autonomous Community of La Rioja has competence in matters of land planning and urban planning, by virtue of the provisions of its Statute of Autonomy. One of the essential elements in land use planning is the landscape, as established in the Law 5/2006, of May 2, of Spatial Planning and Urbanism of La Rioja (LOTUR).

The European Landscape Convention, drawn up by the Council of Europe and presented on October 20, 2000 in Florence, defines landscape as any part of the territory as perceived by members of the population. This perception is the result of the interaction between the natural and/or human factors of the environment and is not understood only as a landscape perceived visually, but as that perceived by all the senses.

The objective of the European Landscape Convention, in force in Spain since March 1, 2008, is to promote the protection, management and planning of landscapes, giving it the role of structural axis of the territory, imprint of the natural and cultural heritage of a country, on which economic activities are carried out.

In Spain, at a more generic level, landscape protection is included in the Spanish Environmental Assessment Act: (Law 21/2013, on Environmental Assessment), which establishes procedures for evaluating the environmental impact of projects that may affect the landscape and the environment in general.

In this sense, the landscape is one of the fundamental variables considered in environmental assessment throughout the national territory, even in some communities a specific study is requested for this variable, as is the case of the Valencia Community, the Basque Country or Catalonia. An important point in landscape studies are landscape restoration and integration projects, in order not only to assess the possible impacts, but also to offer solutions and measures to mitigate them or, where appropriate, compensate them.

In the community of La Rioja, although it does not yet have specific legislation on landscape, it is included in various regulations and instruments. The landscape is contemplated in the above-mentioned Law 5/2006, of May 2, on Spatial Planning and Urbanism of La Rioja (LOTUR, 2006), as well as in the Special Plan for the Protection of the Natural Environment of La Rioja (PEPMAN, 1988) and in urban planning.

In addition, we found the La Rioja Landscape Strategy, from 2023. It is a document that seeks to bring together the set of guidelines and guidelines aimed at protecting, improving and projecting the Riojan landscape as an expression of nature, history and human activity.

Alejandro Redondo, Environmental Assessment