Spain's Extremadura Regional High Court has ruled that land was illegally expropriated for the construction of the country's largest operating PV plant, the 500 MW Nunes de Balboa in Usagre, near Badajoz solar power station. Spanish energy giant Iberdrola, the owner of the solar park, must now demolish 60% of the facility.
The owner of the property, Natura Manager, owns 525 hectares of the 854 hectare solar park.
"The ruling shows that the land cannot be expropriated because it has been leased for 25 years. The expropriation request lacks grounds or justification for dispossession," the court said.
The court added that the company always had the legal right to build the factory without expropriation.
“Nevertheless, it took all the actions of its own will to initiate the expropriation process without justification, it ruled, noting that it also recognized the “right to resume the expropriation process.” The farm and all its facilities without PV power plants ."
A spokesman for Iberdrola told pv magazine that the company will appeal to Spain's Supreme Court. He claimed that the dispute involved only one of the three owners of the project site.
The company said: “Approximately 50% of the land is owned by two tenants who at no point have made any claims, who have maintained and responded to the contract originally signed by the three owners. The expropriation process follows statutory procedures and respects all existing rights and safeguards.”
Iberdrola added that the plant was built under valid and legal title, so it did not believe it should be demolished. The facility has all licenses to produce energy and will continue to operate as normal.
Nuñez de Balboa has been generating electricity since April 2020.