Industry dismisses the Gandia Hive photovoltaic project due to municipal rejection based on landscape concerns

The Territorial Service of Industry, Energy, and Mines of Valencia has dismissed the application by Sun Hive 76, SL for prior administrative and construction authorization for the Gandia Hive photovoltaic plant, with a capacity of 1,000 kW, and its evacuation infrastructure in Palma de Gandía and El Real de Gandia. The resolution, signed on September 30, 2026, by the head of the service, Roberto Javier Anchel Añó, is published in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat Valenciana number 10488, dated November 6, 2026, in section III of administrative acts (reference DOGV-C-2026-32519, file ATALFE/2023/13/46). The determining reason is the unfavorable municipal landscape report, which is mandatory and binding.

A municipal veto blocking the process

The instruction of the procedure corresponds to the Generalitat Valenciana as the installation is located entirely within the Valencian Community, following the integrated authorization procedure for photovoltaic plants on non-urbanizable land under Decree-law 14/2020, of August 7, of the Consell. Article 25 of said regulation requires a favorable report on land use planning and landscape to grant the authorizations, with an issuance period of three months.

The regional Landscape Service determined on April 30, 2026, that the project fell under one of the cases of article 25.3 of the decree-law, therefore the competence to report passed to the City Council of Palma de Gandía. The council approved its report on June 30, 2026, and resolved it unfavorably via a resolution dated July 8, 2026, considering the action incompatible “from a territorial, urban, and landscape point of view.”

Developer’s allegations and municipal ratification

The company submitted allegations on July 30, 2026, in which it questioned the methodology of the municipal report and the city council’s own competence to issue it, and defended the territorial and landscape compatibility of the plant. The Mayoral Resolution of August 31, 2026, fully dismissed these allegations, ratified the unfavorable report, and expressly requested the territorial service to resolve in accordance with the binding nature of the municipal pronouncement.

The main milestones of the file, initiated with an application on February 24, 2023 (GVRTE/2023/904897), are:

• June 1, 2023: admission for processing of the application, for 0.90 MW of installed power and granted access capacity.
• January 5, 2026: announcement in the DOGV number 10274, and January 8, 2026 in the Official Gazette of the Province of Valencia number 4, with a 15-day public exhibition period.
• April 22, 2026: report from the Territorial Risk Management Service, which considers the implementation compatible, with corrective measures due to the presence of soils in Strategic Area 1 for aquifer recharge.
• May 8, 2026: report from the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, with no impact on the public hydraulic domain but with conditions regarding the underground crossing of the Portell ravine.
• July 29, 2026: conditional favorable report from the General Directorate of Natural and Animal Environment, accepted by the promoter on August 18.
• September 17, 2026: report from the Territorial Planning Service, which finds compatibility with territorial planning.

Characteristics of the rejected installation

The project planned for 1,904 modules of 555 Wp —1,056 kWp in total— on a south-oriented fixed structure with a 20-degree tilt, with a 1,000 kW inverter limited to 900 kW. The generators were located in polygon 6, plots 19 and 20, and polygon 14, plot 11, of Palma de Gandía, while the evacuation route ran through polygon 6 (plots 20, 9018, 9020, and 9021) and polygon 1 (plots 9003 and 9017) of El Real de Gandia.

The infrastructure included a 1,000 kVA transformation center and a 20 kV underground line of 2,267.44 meters to an independent sectioning center connected to the L11 “Papeleras Villalonga” line of the Gandia substation. The distribution network corresponds to I-DE Redes Eléctricas Inteligentes, SAU. During the public information process, allegations were presented by individuals and neighborhood associations regarding territorial, urban, landscape, and environmental incompatibility, and the possible accumulation of impacts with the Ador Hive installation (ATALFE/2022/64/46).

Impact for the sector and the municipality

The resolution does not end the administrative process: an administrative appeal (recurso de alzada) may be filed before the General Directorate of Energy and Mines within one month from the day following the notification. The ruling consolidates the weight of the municipal landscape report as a decisive filter for photovoltaic projects on non-developable land, prevailing over the favorable pronouncements of the sectoral regional services, and leaves an investment of one megawatt in the La Safor region in suspense.

Source: Official Gazette of the Generalitat Valenciana, no. 10488, of November 6, 2026, section III, pág. 1-5 (official reference: DOGV-C-2026-32519).