Renewable energy taxes and environmental impacts: A critical reflection from the wind tax in Spain

Abstract

In recent decades, wind energy has undergone significant progress, with the contribution of countries such as China, the United States, Germany and Spain standing out, although there is no single comprehensive model for promoting renewable energy worldwide. In Spain, the regions of Galicia, Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia have led this process, with significant changes in their contribution depending on the economic situation and the varied legislative framework in force at any given time. Although wind energy is less harmful to the environment, it is not harmless, and environmental impact and its penalisation is one of the key elements in the applicable regulations. In the case of Spain, the three regions mentioned above, out of a total of seventeen, apply their own taxes to tax the environmental impact of wind energy. The aim of this paper is to describe and compare the wind tax applied in the aforementioned regions from 1995 to 2020; to characterise wind taxation socio-economically, and to assess the suitability of this type of taxation to tax the environmental impacts associated with wind energy activity in Spain. The differences in tax treatment are notable and it is observed that the concept of environmental impact has been anchored in the past and, today, older wind farms with less powerful wind turbines are those that bear a greater tax burden, while more modern, more powerful and larger wind farms (with a significant environmental, acoustic and visual impact) may even be exempt from taxation.