In recent years, installing wind turbines in Galicia has become hardly feasible. This community, once a pioneer in wind energy at the national level, now hosts more than fifty projects that have been stalled in court. Public opposition to these installations has found a powerful ally in the courts, raising the possibility of spreading to other autonomous regions across the country.
The dispute extends beyond Galicia. It threatens to spill over into regions like Catalonia, where social resistance to wind plants has traditionally been strong. In Andalusia, attempts to halt wind parks using similar arguments were rejected by the courts, as was the Madrid High Court’s stance on other projects. It is likely that the question will reach Brussels, since Galicia’s High Court plans to request a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice on whether its interpretation that allows halting wind farms is correct. A definitive ruling could reverberate nationwide.
Procedural Questions
One of the first projects to feel the impact was the Corme wind park. This 1998 installation began a process to replace 61 turbines with seven larger and more modern units, but a private challenge blocked the prior authorizations and suspended development. The Galicia High Court argued that the public disclosure of the project had started before sectoral reports were gathered and that the window for public comments was 15 days instead of the standard 30, due to the project being designated of special interest.
The Supreme Court’s Administrative Litigation Chamber later overruled that annulment toward the end of 2023. Yet the contention that a project could be halted for not including all essential environmental and informational reports in the public phase established a precedent that many wind plants leaned on, according to the Wind Business Association (AEE). The AEE notes that these studies typically number around a dozen and can take two to three years to assemble because they touch multiple administrations, from archaeology to the hydrographic confederation, and involve landscape impact as well as socio-economic effects.
Environmental Considerations
Another line of argument centers on environmental sensitivity. An adviser from the Wind Business Association’s Energy Policies and Climate Change team contends that maps signaling environmental sensitivity do not carry legal weight, as they are guides rather than binding criteria. The environmental analysis itself should determine whether a park can be built, a stance that creates substantial uncertainty because renewable projects are subject to rigorous scrutiny by regional or national authorities. If court interventions become a recurring second hurdle, the entire permitting process could be slowed indefinitely.
Over the last years, more than a hundred wind park projects in Galicia were proposed or upgraded. Of these, over half were dismissed by the regional government for failing to meet environmental impact requirements. From the set that remained, as many as 52 were halted by the courts. A statistical review from the sector highlights a grim view: out of 112 parks, only a few are deemed acceptable. The Galicia High Court currently handles more than 200 ongoing disputes affecting about 80 projects with a combined capacity exceeding 2,000 megawatts, roughly the annual energy consumption of 1.6 million homes in renewable terms for a major portion of the region.
Three-Year Timelines
The clock is relentless. Licenses can expire if procedures aren’t completed on time. In June 2020, the Ministry for Ecological Transition set deadlines for each step required to launch a renewable park, including administrative authorization, impact assessments, prior approval, construction, and eventual operation. If these windows are missed, a license can lapse automatically.
For projects that gained grid access between December 31, 2017, and June 25, 2020, the deadline to complete construction runs until July 2028, a three-year time frame. Critics warn that not only are investments and jobs at stake, but also agreements with Galician manufacturers tied to new factories that would supply the sector. Deloitte Consulting’s impact study for the AEE estimated this could affect 32 strategic projects, with economic implications of about 6.38 billion euros and up to 14,000 jobs, illustrating the potential scale of lost opportunity and disrupted supply chains.