Solar panels could be compulsory in new homes

8 November 2004

MADRID- Spain is considering making solar panels compulsory in new and renovated buildings in order to save fuel costs and improve the environment, the newspaper El Pais reported.

The Spanish daily, quoting industry ministry sources, said Spain, one of Europe’s sunniest lands, is behind Germany when it comes to using solar panels.

With the price of oil reaching USD 50 a barrel, solar energy could produce savings of at least EUR 80 (USD 103) a year on fuel to heat domestic water supplies per household, and reduce greenhouse gases, the newspaper said.

But critics of government plans for solar panels from next year say that installing them would increase by somewhere between EUR 1,100 and 1,400 the cost of houses.

House prices have doubled since 1999 as part of an unprecedented housing boom in Spain.

The Socialist government led by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero plans to increase the area of solar panels ten-fold by the year 2010, and will introduce subsidies to cover this, the newspaper reported without further details.

According to official estimates, installation of solar panels in 3.5 million dwellings built in the last five years in Spain would have yielded a fuel cost saving of  EUR 245 million.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news