Energy accepts the waiver of the El Espino de Busot photovoltaic plant

The General Directorate of Energy and Mines of the Generalitat Valenciana has accepted the withdrawal by TM Renovables Finca El Espino, S.L. of its application for prior administrative and construction authorization for the FV El Espino photovoltaic plant, with an installed capacity of 15,784 kW, in the municipality of Busot (Alicante). The resolution, signed in València, declares the proceedings of file ATALFE/2022/45/03 concluded and orders its publication in the Diari Oficial de la Generalitat Valenciana and in the Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante. The agreement is published in the Alicante BOP No. 204, dated October 27, 2026, with official reference 8022 / 2026, within Section II. Autonomous Administration, under the heading of the Territorial Service of Industry, Energy and Mines.

A file opened in 2022 and processed with objections

The company submitted the application to the Territorial Service of Industry, Energy and Mines of Alicante with entry registration GVRTE/2022/2241494, dated July 13, 2022. The projected installation was located in Polygon 1, plots 25, 27, 55, 58, and 59, and in Polygon 2, plot 2, of Busot. File ATVARI/2021/291/03 contains the resolution confirming guarantee 032021V77 established by the promoter, as well as the access and connection permit dated March 18, 2022.

Admission for processing was agreed upon on September 19, 2022, under Article 1 of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020. The authorization request and the declaration of public utility were submitted for public consultation for 30 days, with announcements in the Diari Oficial de la Generalitat Valenciana on October 2, 2023 (No. 9695), in the Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante of the same date (No. 190), and in the newspaper Información on October 11, 2023. The announcement was posted on the electronic headquarters notice board of the Busot City Council between October 6 and November 21, 2023. According to the resolution, several objections were presented during this process, which were forwarded to the promoter and answered by them.

Sectoral reports and favorable environmental declaration

The file incorporates the pronouncements of the affected administrations:

• Resolution from the General Directorate of Public Works, Transport and Sustainable Mobility.
• Unfavorable resolution from the Territorial Service of Culture and Sport of Alicante.
• Favorable resolution from the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation.
• Conditional favorable resolution from the General Directorate of Natural and Animal Environment.
• Joint favorable resolution from the Territorial Risk Management Service and the Territorial Planning Service.
• Joint conditional favorable resolution from the Landscape Service and the Territorial Planning Service.

There is also a favorable Environmental Impact Statement dated May 18, 2023.

Evacuation cost overruns and PPA drop

The waiver was formalized with entry registration GVRTE/2025/3429230, dated July 20, 2025, in which the company also requests the return of the bond committed as a guarantee. The document attributes the decision to “unforeseen cost overruns” for evacuation and to the new situation of the energy market:

• The distributor I-DE demanded that the evacuation line be changed from overhead to underground, resulting in higher civil works and materials costs.
• By a letter dated December 3, 2024, the use of copper cable with a 2,000 mm² section was imposed, which increased the supply and installation budget.
• Connection requirements with the substation and the assignment contract were tightened.
• The environmental reformulation of the project (green infrastructure and landscape) reduced the peak power by more than 160 kW and changed the orientation of the panels toward east-west configurations, with lower expected production.
• The “recent drop in the PPA price” (power purchase agreement) deteriorated, according to the developer, the economic margins.

The resolution is based on Article 94 of Law 39/2015, which obliges the Administration to accept the withdrawal outright and declare the procedure concluded, unless interested third parties who have appeared request its continuation within ten days from the notification. The competence to resolve corresponds to the General Directorate of Energy and Mines in accordance with Decree 88/2005 and the organic structure established by Decree 186/2025 and Decree 49/2026.

Notifications and appeal

The text orders the notification of the resolution to the holder, the intervening administrations and public service companies, the holders of affected assets and rights, and the rest of the interested parties, and to forward it to the Institut Cartogràfic Valencià to update the territorial data. Publication in the BOP serves as notification to unknown holders or those with an unknown address, according to Article 44 of Law 39/2015. Against the resolution, which does not exhaust the administrative route, an administrative appeal (recurso de alzada) may be filed before the Autonomous Secretariat of Environment and Territory within one month.

The closure of the file nullifies the processing of a plant of nearly 16 MW that had mobilized neighborhood objections and focused attention on land use in Busot, within a context of reviewing evacuation costs and the profitability of renewable projects in the province.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante, No. 204 of 10/27/2026, Section II. Autonomous Administration, pp. 1-4 (official reference: 8022 / 2026).