A group of international investors has the Spanish Government to reconsider plans to cut costly subsidies for solar power, say would cause a wave of defaults and more bad loans for European banks.
Snow solar panels in Central Spain cleans Agence France-Presse/Getty Images A man earlier in this year.Tom Murley, head of the renewable energy team at UK private equity company HgCapital, changes "Breach of trust" shown said the legal uncertainty in the Spanish would increase renewable energy industry.
"If you continue in this way, you not only our investment, but the entire sector will compromise", said Mr Murley, representing a group of 20 pension fund managers and strategic investors in the Spanish solar photovoltaic, or PV industry.
The Spanish Government is expected to adopt a proposal in the next few days will reduce the solar PV subsidies to as much as 30% - including for existing power plants, according to industry officials.
A Government spokesman could not be reached to comment.
Spain is one the AOne number of funds European countries who were forced to check your lower electricity bills for consumers, the cost-cutting measures and public spending cuts to fight generous system of subsidies for renewable energy.
Spain long as Germany had feed-in tariffs, prices for CO2 stream guarantee and renewable energies assure company has a higher return than you could expect from the free market. They were considered essential if European countries were achieving tough goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Spain, solar PV systems on the network connected the price utilities, produced in September 2008 a feed-in tariff of €450 ($589) per megawatt of electricity for 25 years receiving - about 10 times numbers for electricity from conventional sources such as gas and coal.
Retail cast to take advantage of the incentives, huge building installations of photovoltaic panels across Spain. The country has now 3,200 megawatts solar capacity more than six times what expect the Government to have end of 2010. In the last year alone it reached 2.6 billion in subsidies for solar power from €.
Since the financial crisis and the subsequent recession hit in 2008 Spain tried to reduce the cost of the handouts. In July it reached agreement with the renewable energy industry to cut the feed-in tariff for wind and solar energy projects - but only for new projects.
Spain however took a different tack with solar photovoltaics. The cut, it is planning for this sector concern for existing power plants as well as new feed-in tariffs.
Investors say the cut is retroactive - a claim that the Government denies. Under the current regime generators are entitled solar feed-in remuneration paid for the electricity will produce. The Government proposes the number of subsidised hours the generation, sell solar systems to the grid a cap placed on the market.
Mr Murley said about 20 billion € in the solar PV plants in Spain, with at least € 8bn, went from international investors such as banks and pension funds, and the rest of Spanish banks and private investors.
He has the tariff changes many solar producers in standard could force on your debt which already gesattelt with bad credit in the real estate sector would mean big depreciation for the Spanish banks.
-Juan Montes contributed to this article.Write toGuy Chazan at guy.chazan@wsj.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment