Solar Disobedience in Spain: Throwing a Stick in the Revolving Door

When asked if the government and the utility companies are making deals behind the scenes, every Spaniard I spoke to would simply shrug and say, “There is no information on it, but we all know it's happening.”

The utility companies in Spain were initially public agencies under the Franco dictatorship, but were privatized after the democratic republic was created. However, the utilities have stayed close to the government; in multiple conversations, I have heard utility companies described as "revolving doors" for politicians of both major parties in Spain. An article in the Spanish newspaper El Confidencial describes how the former Minister of Economy and Vice President Elena Salgado of the Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE) was hired as the director of Chiletra, a Chilean subsidiary of Endesa. Endesa is one of the major utilities, and while politicians in Spain are not legally allowed to work in the private sector for two years after holding office, Salgado join Chilectra only three months after leaving office because the law only applies to companies operating in Spain.

A Greenpeace report outlines the work Iberdrola has done to obstruct the growth of renewable energy. In the report, it describes how Fernando Becker and Angel Acebes, the former leader and number three in the People’s Party (PP), respectively, both are currently employed by Iberdrola. Acebes has been a non-executive director since March 2012 and Becker, a personal friend of the current prime minster Mariano Rajoy, has been the Director General of Corporate Resources since 1999. The report also mentioned other high ranking former politicians in the other four major utility companies: Felipe Gonzalez (PSOE), former prime minster for 14 years, at Gas Natural, Pedro Solbes (PSOE), former deputy prime minister, at ENEL, Elena Salgado (PSOE) and Jose Maria Aznar (PP), former vice president and former prime minster, at Endesa, and Josu Jon Imaz (PP), former member of the European Parliament, at Petronor. The utilities always justify the appointment of politicians based on their "relevant knowledge" even though most of them have spent their entire careers in politics.

These political appointments represent the deep connections between the government and the utility companies. It is through this lens that we must see the recent retroactive cuts in Spain and the aggressive policies to curb the adoption of residential solar power. If the utilities are using their influence in the government to maintain their monopoly, the solar industry must take action to counter these obstructions.

One of the most effective defenses against the government's obstruction to renewable energy in Spain has been the formation of solar trade associations such as APPA and UNEF to give solar companies lobbying power in the Spain government and European Commission. While the lobby power of APPA and UNEF is much smaller that of UNESA, the utilities trade association, it is essential that the solar companies have united to create a common voice to make the discussion more balanced.

While forming trade organizations and challenging the legality of Spanish laws has provided some opposition, it has not prevented the government from delivering crippling blows to the solar industry. Unless the government fears some sort of political backlash from the Spanish voters, it will not hesitate to make further cuts. However, rousing public support for solar power is especially difficult in Spain for a few reasons. First, the Spanish people are not accustomed to organizing to express their political beliefs, which means there are no large, existing environmental organizations to provide for support for solar power. The lack of civilian political groups may be due to the young age of Spain’s  current democratic government, which as only formed in 1975. The second difficulty in Spain is the government’s ambivalence to the views of the people, which is likely exacerbated by the absence of large civilian political organizations. The third point is subtler, but is related to the first two. Since homeowners were prevented from connecting solar PV to the grid until 2011 almost all of the solar power in Spain is in power plants. This means that cuts to the solar FIT only affects non-voting groups like investors. In countries like Germany or Italy, where a large fraction of installed solar power is owned by citizens, the government is more hesitant to retroactively cut support for solar power because it directly impacts voters. This is not the case in Spain.

Despite these headwinds there are efforts underway to stimulate public support for solar power. Hector de Prado of the Amigos de la Tierra (Friends of the Earth) describes the organization’s two-pronged approach to raising public sentiment for the value of solar power.

Even though solar powered electricity is less expensive than grid electricity in Spain, solar systems remain out of the reach of many Spaniards because of government bureaucracy. The average installation time for a small 3 kW system is more than one year (58 weeks) largely due to a pre-registration process that can take more than 6 months. To work around this unnecessary bureaucracy, the Friends of the Earth is trying to increase Spanish participation in solar power by allowing individuals to take a €100 or more stake in a 20 kW solar power system in Cuenca, Spain. The PV system is already constructed and is selling renewable power to the grid. Not only does the system provide a good return, estimated to be around 7%, but it also increases awareness for the benefits of solar PV and the coop model of electrical utilities. Spain is dominated by five large utilities, but most Spaniards do not know that Spain is also home to over 100 different energy companies including 3 operating cooperatives. Energy cooperatives are member owned utilities where all members have an equal say in their governance. Any profits from the cooperative are either reinvested into infrastructure, or given to the members as dividends. This model runs counter to the utilities’ business model, which seeks to make profit for its shareholders and employees. Friends of the Earth works with Community Power to spread the adoption of energy cooperatives to break the utility companies’ monopolistic grip on providing electricity and to enable legislation to increase public acceptance of renewable energy projects in Spain and Europe.

Friends of the Earth is also working with the Platform for a New Energy Model and other renewable energy advocacy groups to launch a civil disobedience campaign during the next Spanish election in 2015 to oppose the proposed tax on grid connected, domestic solar power. The civil disobedience campaign is meant to raise solidarity against the €0.045/kWh tax the government is likely to pass on all grid connected solar power. The disobedience campaign seeks to gather solar power users together to collectively disobey the law by not registering their systems. Not registering a system to avoid paying the tax could result in fines of up to €30 M. The members of the disobedience campaign will collectivize fines from the government, and thus help to share the burden of the fines. If enough people come together, the government will not be able to enforce the law and could even repeal it.

The solar disobedience campaign lead by the Platform for a New Energy Model has four elements. The first element utilized badges and banners displayed in homes and workplaces to raise awareness for the campaign. In the second element, the Platform will spread the use of small-scale solar kits to increase resistance to the tax and demonstrate the benefits of solar power to the Spanish people. The third element involves the Platform arranging for people to join local energy cooperatives, where available, to break the utilities’ virtual monopoly. Lastly, the Platform will organize street demonstrations to raise awareness among the general public and show the government the people’s  opposition to the solar tax. Hector expects thousands of people to join the campaign, but aspires to get as many as one million people involved.

With all the civil discontent over the economic situation in Spain and Europe, it should be possible to frame this fight not only as an environmental issue, but also as a fight for job growth and financial relief for the people. By highlighting the job losses from crippling the domestic solar industry, the disobedience campaign may be able to increase opposition to the tax on solar power. Perhaps more importantly, environmental organizations can promote the fact that solar power now is now less expensive than grid electricity in Spain, and thus show that the government is punishing an industry that could offer Spaniards financial relief amidst ever rising electricity prices. The challenge with highlighting the financial benefits of solar power is to overcome the utility companies’ own counter-informational campaign stating that solar power benefits the few, while raising costs for everyone else. The utility companies have very deep pockets and large public relations departments, which they can use to skew the issue. Sadly, as Peter Holtrop described to me in an interview, people in Spain tend to believe what big corporations say.

The challenges confronting the solar industry in Spain loom large, but I believe the greatest asset in this fight are the Spanish people – the people involved in the solar industry and environmental groups like Friends of the Earth as well as the Spanish citizens. If enough people come together around the civil disobedience campaign to oppose the oppressive actions of the government, I believe solar power can overcome the corruptive influence of the utility companies.