The Rubí City Council has submitted objections to the Generalitat's energy plan, arguing that it does not incorporate local realities and contains zoning errors in the municipality.
The Rubí City Council has submitted objections to the Pla territorial sectorial per a la generació elèctrica eòlica i fotovoltaica (PLATER), promoted by the Generalitat de Catalunya through the Institut Català d'Energia (ICAEN). The council believes that the current proposal does not incorporate sufficient information or local knowledge and presents various errors in the municipality's zoning.
The PLATER aims to determine which lands in Catalunya are suitable for the installation of wind and photovoltaic energy plants, as well as associated systems, in order to advance decarbonisation and the energy transition. Rubí is currently the fifth city in Catalunya in installed self-consumption photovoltaic power, with 22.40 MW, and has 1,559 installations. However, the plan establishes that by 2050, up to 130 MW of photovoltaic energy should be installed in the municipality: 70% on building and industrial roof tops, 9% on roads and other infrastructures, and the remaining 21% on non-artificialised land.
The City Council considers that the participation process has been insufficient, with a very short prior consultation period and partial and delayed availability of the information layers used to establish the zonings. According to the council, this approach to deploying renewables could favour a model based on large installations promoted by major companies, to the detriment of a more decentralised model linked to energy communities.
One of the main arguments of the City Council is that the PLATER has not adequately incorporated the available municipal information. Rubí has provisionally approved the 'Modification of the General Urban Planning Plan for the regulation of renewable electric energy production and battery storage uses', an urban planning tool that seeks to reconcile the energy transition with the preservation of environmental, landscape, agricultural, and heritage values. For example, it establishes that batteries cannot occupy non-urbanisable land, which is relevant in Rubí after receiving several requests for energy storage activities.
The objections also include the need to consider the new urban planning determinations derived from the Pla d'Ordenació Urbanística Municipal (POUM), initially approved by the City Council in June. The council believes that this information should have been taken into account in the PLATER's zoning.
The City Council also questions the calculation of the photovoltaic potential assigned to Rubí. While the PLATER estimates the potential for buildings at 91.7 MW, the strategic environmental study carried out as part of the modification of the municipal planning places it at 248 MW. This capacity would far exceed the PLATER's target without increasing pressure on non-urbanisable land. Therefore, the objections demand a review of the sizing of energy needs and a better justification of the territorial allocation of photovoltaic potential.
The council argues that the energy transition should prioritise already constructed or transformed surfaces. Rubí has the potential for this and requests that the PLATER establish concrete mechanisms for installations on roofs, rooftops, and artificialised land to be developed before those occupying non-artificialised land, avoiding a selection based solely on economic criteria.
Regarding territorial protection, the City Council demands better protection of spaces with high landscape, identity, and environmental value. It argues that areas such as the biological corridor of the Serra de l'Oleguera and Can Riquer, which connects the Parc Natural de Sant Llorenç del Munt i l'Obac with the Parc Natural de la Serra de Collserola, or areas of great agricultural, cultural, and landscape importance such as Can Xercavins or Can Ramoneda, cannot be considered suitable for large photovoltaic plants.
The City Council requests to correct the PLATER's zoning to exclude various protected areas and elements that have not been sufficiently considered from the suitable or priority areas. Among them are areas affected by watercourses, flood-prone spaces, and public hydraulic domain, elements included in the Catalogue and Special Protection Plan for the Architectural, Archaeological, and Natural Heritage of Rubí, protected constructions on non-urbanisable land, the network of paths, and several riverine forests.
Finally, the council believes that the energy transition must have a social and territorial dimension, with returns for the municipalities hosting the installations. The objections submitted seek a thorough review of the PLATER and a correction of the zoning proposal for Rubí, ensuring a model that is more respectful of the territory and with real participation from municipalities.
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