News

12 February 2019

Landmark legislation passed in the Balearic Islands boosts WinWind efforts

On Tuesday the 12th of February 2019, the government of the regional autonomous community of the Balearic Islands passed a landmark piece of legislation. The Climate Change and Energy Transition Law, pioneered by the progressive coalition governing the islands, commits the region to take radical action to combat climate change and to realise the energy transition. To these ends, the legislation contains a timeline of actions and deadlines for progressively reaching these goals in the next decades. This gives a significant boost to the activities of the WinWind project, which aims to increase the social acceptance of wind energy and includes the islands as one of its focus regions.

 

>> read the WinWind Policy Brief #2 for more info on the topic<<

 

The law will oblige the islands to work towards ensuring that 100% of energy consumed in the region comes from renewable sources by the year 2050. This is both praised and criticized for being a highly ambitious target, particularly given that currently renewables only account for 3% of the region’s energy source. At this moment, the region is predominantly dependent on fossil fuels, as well as energy sourced via a submarine electricity cable from mainland Spain to Mallorca.

 

In this regard, the law aims to achieve 10% use of renewables by 2020, 35% by 2035, gradually leading up to the 100% target until 2050. 70% of this energy is to be produced on the islands themselves, with photovoltaic energy expected to produce the large bulk of this.

 

Nevertheless, other renewable sources, such as wind energy, will play a significant role in achieving these ambitious targets. The activities of the WinWind project in Spain have received, and are set to receive additional, boosts from the legislation’s approval and implementation. This is thanks to favourable regulatory frameworks, as well as enhanced attention of citizens, policy-makers and investors to the inevitable contribution of wind energy in achieving the legislation targets set for the region.

 

>> Read the full press release <<