Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Finance, funds and markets · Spain · 2008–2011

Spanish solar plants registered as complete before they were built: 1,919 administrative sanctions (2008-2011)

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
Things were done in my name here. No one has measured what reached me.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 4 none on record · 1 not measured See the gaps

Plants were registered as complete before the 30 September 2008 deadline for Spain's 46.5 c/kWh solar tariff without being built or connected. By June 2011 the energy commission had checked 9,042 plants and 1,919 had been sanctioned administratively.

1,919 plantsPlants sanctioned administratively by June 2011
The energy commission (CNE) checked 9,042 plants (about 800 MW); payments to 350 plants were suspended.

Status As of 18 October 2026: 1,919 plants sanctioned administratively by June 2011; the sources reviewed record no criminal outcome.

What?
Plants were registered as complete for the 46.5 c/kWh solar tariff before being built or connected; 1,919 plants were sanctioned administratively by June 2011. pv magazine
Where?
Spain. pv magazine
When?
Deadline 30 September 2008; Royal Decree 1003/2010; sanctions by June 2011. pv magazine
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
The tariff applied to plants finished by 30 September 2008. No source reviewed states operators' reasons. pv magazine
How?
Plants were registered as complete without being built or connected; the energy commission checked plants, suspended payments and sanctioned operators. pv magazine
5 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who

What happened

The record, in order.

Royal Decree 661/2007 set a feed-in tariff of 46.5 c/kWh for photovoltaic plants, with a deadline of 30 September 2008 for plants to be finished. According to secondary reporting, plants were registered as complete before that deadline without being built or connected.

Royal Decree 1003/2010 targeted plants registered for the tariff without being finished by 30 September 2008. The energy commission (CNE) checked 9,042 plants, about 800 MW. Payments to 350 plants were suspended, and 1,919 plants had been sanctioned administratively by June 2011. Operators must repay the payments with interest.

  1. 200830 September: deadline for plants to be finished to qualify for the 46.5 c/kWh tariff
  2. 2010Royal Decree 1003/2010 targets plants registered for the tariff without being finished by the deadline
  3. 2011By June, 1,919 plants sanctioned administratively

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • Plants registered as complete before the 30 September 2008 deadline for the 46.5 c/kWh tariff.
    Plant operators, as described in secondary reporting · pv magazine

Recorded

  • Plants were registered as complete before the deadline without being built or connected (secondary reporting).
    pv magazine
  • The energy commission (CNE) checked 9,042 plants; payments to 350 were suspended; 1,919 were sanctioned administratively by June 2011; operators must repay with interest.
    pv magazine

In nature's name

What was promised in nature's name, the money that moved, and what was measured.

What was measured

Not measured

The sanctions concern registration of plants as complete for the tariff. No independent measurement of the electricity generated, or of any emissions avoided, by the sanctioned plants is on record in the sources reviewed.

Plants checked by the energy commission
9,042 plants (about 800 MW)
As reported pv magazine
Plants sanctioned administratively by June 2011
1,919
As reported pv magazine
Independent measurement of generation or emissions avoided
None on record
No measurement in the sources reviewed

Findings on record

  • Registry action Spanish authorities (administrative sanctions) (2011-06) · Royal Decree 1003/2010; 1,919 plants sanctioned by June 2011 pv magazine

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 2011-06Claimant won
    Administrative sanctions on solar plants registered as complete before being finished
    Spanish energy authorities (the sanctioning body is not named in the sources reviewed) · Administrative · Spanish authorities → Operators of photovoltaic plants

    1,919 plants sanctioned administratively by June 2011; payments to 350 plants suspended; operators must repay with interest. pv magazine

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Plants checked
9,042 (about 800 MW)
Energy commission (CNE), as reported
Plants sanctioned administratively
1,919
By June 2011
Independent measurement of generation or emissions avoided
None on record
No measurement in the sources reviewed

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Benefit not measured

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

Record

  • None on record The sources reviewed record no criminal outcome.
  • None on record The operators' own accounts, and any government or commission statement beyond the figures above: not on record in the sources reviewed.
  • None on record The sources reviewed do not name the operators or the sanctioning body, or give the amounts to be repaid.
  • None on record The sources reviewed do not give the dates of the payment suspensions or say how the 1,919 sanctioned plants relate to the 9,042 checked.

Did the harm stop?

Not established in the sources reviewed.

Who paid?

Operators must repay the payments with interest, as reported; amounts are not stated in the sources reviewed.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Press and investigations

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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