Urban regulation of the implementation of renewable energy installations

Recently, many town councils in Catalonia are considering how to regulate the installation of renewable energy installations on non-developable land in their municipal area. It is clear that the urgent need to increase the use of renewable energies is indisputable today in order to try to achieve the environmental goals agreed at a global level to curb climate change. However, certain municipalities and groups are also concerned that the implementation of wind or photovoltaic farms is done in an orderly manner, without harming other environmental, landscape or heritage values. To this end, some Councils are starting the formulation of urban planning instruments that regulate the conditions for the implementation of these solar or wind farms. From GMG we are drafting several plans with this objective, either through a special Plan, as in the case of Santa Margarida and the Monks, or through modification of the general planning, as in the case of Les Franqueses del Vallès. To do this, at GMG we have developed a methodology that, through a geographic information system, collects all available territorial information (slope of the land, agricultural capacity, communication systems, electrical network, solar irradiation, heritage elements, hydrology, etc.), filters what is relevant in the field of study, and analyzes the different sources in a combined way. In this way, the areas suitable or not for the implementation of these renewable energy parks become evident, and this basis allows in a more rational and scientific way to make decisions that have just completed the regulation proposal, grading the protection measures (distances to heritage elements, historic paths, control of landscape impact, etc.). We are convinced that in this way an urban regulation can be achieved that facilitates the implementation of photovoltaic or wind farms necessary to achieve the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 and the Paris Agreement of 2015 but at the same time guaranteeing an action coherent and respectful of pre-existences and the landscape.