The Government denies the construction of two large photovoltaic parks on rural land in Ariany and Maria

ArianyThe Government, through the Ministry of Business, Self-Employed and Energy, has resolved to deny the continuation of procedures and prior administrative authorization for the photovoltaic park projects Alten Mallorca III, located in the municipality of Maria de la Salut, and Alten Mallorca IV, located in Ariany. Both projects, known for the farms of Montblanc in Maria and Son Boscà in Ariany, planned the installation of two recognized power plants with their corresponding energy evacuation lines on rustic land.

Regarding the scale of the installations, each of the parks had a planned power of 11.6 megawatts (11,600 kW). In the case of Alten Mallorca III, in Maria de la Salut, the project planned the installation of more than twenty-four thousand solar panels over an area of approximately twenty hectares (194,200 square meters). Adding the Alten Mallorca IV park in Ariany, with identical capacity and similar dimensions, the Government's denial avoids the direct occupation of nearly forty hectares of agricultural rustic land between both municipalities of Pla de Mallorca.

The Government's decision is decisively based on the reports from the Directorate General of Urbanistic Harmonization and Environmental Assessment, dependent on the Ministry of Housing, Territory and Mobility. This environmental body issued unfavorable environmental impact statements for both installations, considering that the projects were not compatible with the preservation of the environment. Given this mandatory and binding pronouncement, the technical services of the Directorate General of Circular Economy, Energy Transition and Climate Change have concluded that it is not appropriate to continue with the processing or grant the declaration of a strategic industrial project.

In the case of Maria de la Salut, the installation had been planned on a plot in polygon five, while in Ariany the park was located in polygon one of the municipality. The promoting companies had requested the processing throughout 2023, but the unfavorable environmental resolution has definitively closed the ordinary administrative route, even though the promoters can still file the corresponding appeals.

This resolution puts a brake on the proliferation of large solar energy installations on agricultural land in the Pla de Mallorca region. In recent years, the multiplication of projects of this kind has generated notable concern among town halls, agricultural entities such as APAEMA, and neighborhood platforms, which insistently demand adequate territorial planning that prioritizes building roofs, industrial estates, and already degraded areas instead of occupying land for agricultural or livestock use.

We recall that in the case of Maria de la Salut, objections had been filed and the processing of these photovoltaic parks had been requested to be suspended. Now, the mayors of Ariany, Joan Ribot, and of Maria, Jaume Ferriol, point out that they respect the decision that has been made. "If the reports are negative, it must be because they did not meet all the requirements and in Maria there were people from the town who had shown themselves to be against it," said Ferriol, who also added that "if it had been done, it would have brought important income to the town and I also considered that the chosen location did not have a great visual impact, since it could not be seen from anywhere, you had to go there on purpose." His Ariany counterpart explained that "we have to accept the reports of the denial, it is not a municipal competence. We have always opted for renewable energies, but it must be done with knowledge and measure."

With these two denials, the rustic lands of Maria de la Salut and Ariany maintain their traditional use in the face of the pressure of large energy developments.