Energy archives the 70.8 MW Rojalinda solar park due to environmental impact

The General Directorate of Energy Policy and Mines has dismissed the application for prior administrative authorization for the Rojalinda solar photovoltaic plant, with an installed capacity of 70.8 MW, and its evacuation infrastructure, agreeing to archive file PFot-795. The resolution, signed by the general director Manuel García Hernández, is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante (BOP) No. 216, of November 12, 2026, Section I. Central Administration, under reference 8711/2026. The ruling comes after the environmental body issued an unfavorable environmental impact statement for the project as a whole.

A 70.8 MW project and four associated installations

The promoter, Energía, Innovación y Desarrollo Fotovoltaico S.A., submitted the application on September 25, 2021, corrected on November 3, 2021, and subsequently modified on July 1, 2022, and October 5, 2023. The projected installation was not limited to the generating plant, but included the entire evacuation chain:

• Electrical substation SET Rojalinda 20/220 kV.
• 220 kV overhead line between SET Rojalinda and the collector substation Rojales 220 kV.
• Collector substation Rojales 220 kV.
• 220 kV power line between the collector substation and the Rojales 220 kV substation of Red Eléctrica de España (REE).

The territorial scope of the file covered the municipalities of Murcia and Orihuela, Jacarilla, Benejúzar, Algorfa, Almoradí, Los Montesinos, and Rojales, in the province of Alicante. Since it exceeded 50 MW, the authority to authorize belonged to the General State Administration, in accordance with article 3.13 of Law 24/2013, of December 26, on the Electricity Sector.

The unfavorable environmental statement, origin of the archiving

The processing complied with Royal Decree 1955/2000, of December 1, with the file transferred to the Industry and Energy Area of the Government Delegation in Murcia and the Industry and Energy Area Dependency of the Government Sub-delegation in Alicante, which issued their reports on December 15, 2022, and March 30, 2023, respectively. On April 12, 2023, the file was referred to the Sub-directorate General of Environmental Assessment to initiate the ordinary environmental impact assessment provided for in Law 21/2013, of December 9.

On April 24, 2026, the General Directorate of Environmental Quality and Evaluation issued a resolution with an unfavorable environmental impact statement, concluding that the project will foreseeably cause negative and significant impacts that the proposed measures cannot reduce or eliminate, resulting in environmental incompatibility. The resolution was published in the Official State Gazette of May 16, 2026 (BOE-A-2026-10653). The General Directorate of Energy Policy and Mines invokes the mandatory and decisive nature of that statement, as well as the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court (Judgment 962/2022, of July 11), to justify the dismissal.

Expired permits and promoter silence

Added to this is the status of the access and connection permits. The project had obtained a grid access feasibility report, a report on compliance with technical connection conditions, and a verification report at the Rojales 220 kV substation, but on February 5, 2024, Red Eléctrica de España, S.A.U. notified the ministry of the expiration of those permits due to failure to meet the milestones of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of June 23.

On May 18, 2026, the promoter was notified of the hearing process regarding the proposed dismissal resolution in file SGIISE/PFot-795; once the deadline passed, no response was recorded. Against the resolution, which does not end the administrative route, an administrative appeal (recurso de alzada) may be filed before the holder of the Secretary of State for Energy within one month from the day following its notification.

The archiving of Rojalinda closes a file opened more than five years ago and confirms the decisive weight of the environmental filter on large renewable projects. For the affected municipalities of the Vega Baja, the resolution clears the uncertainty regarding land use and the layout of the 220 kV line, while for the promoter, it entails the loss of the prior authorization and the already expired connection permits, without prejudice to a possible appeal.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante, No. 216 of November 12, 2026, Section I. Central Administration, page 1 (official reference: 8711/2026).