Analyzing some time ago in relation to our government with renewable energies, we can say that Spain, while still belonging to the European Union, and, therefore, having to obey the imposed guidelines, is taking giant steps with respect to the rest of the member countries. Giant steps, yes, but steps back.
Not only the EU, if not the whole world is betting on the improvement of technologies in the renewable field, however, the attitude of the rulers of Spain has always been the opposite of the rest. Almost everything was done wrong from the beginning.
First, during the government of José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero, the initiative to encourage and subsidize the construction and installation of solar panels was good. Taking advantage of the fact that Spain has a high incidence of solar hours per day, they could enrich themselves by promoting solar energy. But the problem is that the technology was expensive, and therefore, it had to be done major outlays that in the end ended up being accounts of those Spaniards who took the risk of trying to bet on that renewable solar energy.
Because of this, many families joined the solar boom and saw savings generated by the use of this renewable energy come true. All very simple, clear and concise handwriting (although some things are not so clear). We must add to all this, that with the advancement of technology and the various innovations in renewable energy issues in different countries and in general globalized trade, once something is popularized and research is started on it to get profitability , the construction and installation of solar panels is cheaper than 9 years ago. During the Zapatero government, all the costs of solar energy were between a 60% and 80% more expensive than now. Nowadays, due to the increase in knowledge on the subject, it is much cheaper to work with solar energy.
Later, when the crisis began in Spain, the then minister of industry Jose Sebastian, began to cut premiums and subsidies in the field of solar energy. When the next elections were held, the different political parties claimed that there would be no cuts in the fundamental sectors of the Spanish economy. Many Spaniards who took risks with solar energy, thought that, due to the boom, the renewable energy sector would not suffer any kind of cut, since it was becoming a very important pillar for the economy.
However, they were wrong. The PP government it made severe cuts in the renewables sector, raised taxes and did not continue to develop technologies at the same rate as the rest of Europe and the world. Many families who opted for renewable energies saw their possibilities of amortizing their investment and even taking advantage of said investment cut short.
To all this "commotion" we add the appearance of the famous Sun Tax at the hands of the accused minister Jose Manuel Soria. That tax that makes you have to pay nine euros plus VAT for each Kw of energy generated by your solar panels and € 0,05 for each Kw / h that is self-consuming and self-producing. Also, this tax forces you to give away the excess energy that you have generated but have not consumed to the electricity company. In return, she will sell it to the rest to € 0,12 per kWh. Due to this tax, Spain has fallen into renewable energy issues and with it all hope that Spain will once again be in the ranking of generation, growth or attractiveness to invest in renewable energy.
Taking a more recent count, 2015 has been a disastrous year for renewables. Not a single wind turbine has been installed in the entire year and no policy for the solar or wind sector has even been improved or expanded. We can only wait for an attempt to repeal the sun tax and for the Rajoy government to try not to sink renewable energy further. That Spain serve something in the EU apart from to pay the fines.