Spain Approves Environmental Impact Assessment Exemption for Geothermal Exploration on La Palma

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 19, the Government of the Canary Islands of Spain approved the exemption of the geothermal exploration drilling project on La Palma from the simplified environmental impact assessment procedure, in order to advance the investigation of the island's geothermal resources. The decision was made pursuant to EU Regulation 2022/2577 and concerns the "La Palma Exploration Drilling" project; the exploration work will be used to identify local underground geothermal resources and the conditions for their development for power generation.

According to the approval content published by the Government of the Canary Islands, the planned drilling sites are all located outside the Canary Islands Network of Protected Natural Areas and the EU Natura 2000 protected area network. The project has passed evaluation and review by technical professionals from the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of La Palma, and subsequent drilling operations will implement the corresponding environmental monitoring procedures.

This procedural exemption applies the provisions of EU Regulation 2022/2577 on accelerating the permitting of renewable energy projects. Article 3 of the regulation concerns the designation of renewable energy projects as being in the overriding public interest, and Article 6 sets out acceleration measures for the relevant permitting procedures. In the basis for project approval, the Government of the Canary Islands noted that if the simplified environmental impact assessment were carried out under the original procedure, the relevant review could also be escalated to the ordinary environmental impact assessment procedure.

The Canary Islands are currently developing high-enthalpy geothermal resources for power generation. The exploration drilling on La Palma will focus on investigating the existence of underground geothermal resources and the conditions for their development, and the investigation results will be used for subsequent evaluation of geothermal power generation development.