Summary
1) Again, it’s clear that the new feed-in tariff still makes investing in PV solar in Spain a profitable business. 2) The sector is going to be paralyzed a little bit longer, until promoters know that their facilities have been approved.
Analysis
First piece of news: The Ministry for Industry has just published a new rule changing the following deadlines:
1) The Ministry’s deadline to announce its final decision on the facilities that get into the “Registry for Retribution Assignment” for the first and second terms of the new system. Getting into this Registry is required in order to get the feed-in tariff. The Ministry should have already decided on the applicants for the first term, but there have been so many applications, and with so many errors to correct, that the delay has been unavoidable.
2) Promoter’s deadline to apply for the following quarter. Given that the decision on the current quarter is being delayed, it makes sense that the government extends the deadline for application to next quarter until promoters know if they have made it or not to the current quarter.
Second piece of news: The PV industry announces that about 15,000 workers have been laid out since October, when the old regulation expired. The industry has been paralyzed since then, with promoters waiting to know if their facilities got into the new registry. Actually, some sources speak of 20,000 workers being fired. Obviously, this is just going back to normal, since last year, with the rushing to install PV panels, between 40 and 50,000 workers were employed in Spain.
