ZEC News

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The project to build a hydroelectric plant in the island of El Hierro starts operations in the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC)
[2008-04-08]

The project to build a hydroelectric plant in the island of El Hierro starts operations in the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC)

 

·          The ZEC Consortium Board authorised the incorporation of the company Gorona del Viento, S.A. into the Canary Islands low tax zone at the end of March

 

 

Canary Islands 08/04/08.- The President of the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC), Juan Alberto Martín, this morning announced the incorporation into the low tax zone of the project to build a hydroelectric plant in the island of El Hierro. As Mr Martín noted, the incorporation was authorised at the latest meeting of the Consortium Board of the ZEC, held at the end of March.  

 

The announcement was made at a press conference, where the President of the ZEC and the President of the El Hierro Island Council, Tomás Padrón, said that the El Hierro project, involving 100% renewable energy and implemented by the company Gorona del Viento (with a 60% shareholding by the Island Council, a 30% shareholding by Spanish energy company Endesa, and the remaining 10% by the Canary Islands Institute of Technology), had finalised its registration in the ZEC, the Canary Islands low tax zone with regulations requiring all companies established in the Zone to satisfy certain requirements in relation to investment and job creation.  

 

After the announcement, the commitment made in March between the two public institutions to enable the combined wind and hydro power plant in El Hierro to operate as a ZEC company has become a reality. The President of the ZEC Consortium expressed his satisfaction in this respect, as the inclusion of such a large project in the Zone, supported by public administrations of the Islands and one of the main Spanish energy companies, is a call for potential investors from this sector to take note of what is happening in the Canary Islands. The power plant therefore constitutes a landmark on an international scale which will encourage business initiatives in the field of renewable energies.

 

In line with this, Mr Martín said that El Hierro in particular, and the Canary Islands in general, are home to unbeatable natural conditions for consolidating an industry based on the production and distribution of clean energies, particularly in the fields of solar and wind energy. Mr Martín highlighted the fact that this project would be a hallmark, adding that “the ZEC has a major role to play, which is why the incorporation of companies associated with this sector of activity is being encouraged”.

 

 

Mr Martín said that the incorporation of this project into the ZEC could serve as a major impulse for other companies.

 

The President of the ZEC also mentioned that after the decision by Brussels at the end of 2006, when the European Union authorities ratified the continuation of the tax instrument until 2019, renewable energy production was included in the list of activities authorised within the Canary Islands Special Zone, and “this provided a real boost” for a sector which is currently undergoing considerable growth.  

 

“In the last financial year, the ZEC authorised 16 companies involved in the production of renewable energies – primarily electrical energy – with a committed investment of 76 million euros and the creation of around 76 new jobs“.

 

On comparing these figures with the total number of companies authorised to operate in the ZEC in the last financial year (89), the projects associated with renewable energies represent 18% of all companies authorised. This significant percentage demonstrates the increasing importance of business initiatives related to clean energy production.

 

At the press conference Mr Martín also stressed the importance of setting up ZEC companies in the outlying islands through co-operation between public institutions, in order to encourage the constitution of a business creation centre which would carry out activities in the preferential tax zone. In line with this, Mr Martín noted that the Island includes two other authorised projects, one with an industrial profile and the other associated with shipping and air transport, adding that this showed that the growth rate currently seen in the ZEC would continue in the coming quarters.

 

 

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