Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.
The High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) has upheld the authorisation of the Chira-Soria hydroelectric power plant, promoted by Red Eléctrica in Gran Canaria, dismissing an appeal brought by Turcón-Ecologistas en Acción against the administrative authorisation and the declaration of public utility for the plant.
Environmental impact declaration at the heart of the dispute
The court recalls that the core of the controversy raised by Turcón was environmental in nature and was directed essentially against the favourable and conditional Environmental Impact Declaration (DIA) issued on 30 July 2021. The court specifies that the DIA cannot be appealed on its own, as it is an essential but procedural act that is not open to a standalone appeal, meaning it must be challenged together with the administrative authorisation that incorporates its determinations.
Lack of technical evidence proves decisive
According to the judgment, the decisive factor in dismissing the appeal was the absence of sufficient technical evidence to discredit the conclusions of the Environmental Impact Declaration. The court notes that the claim was accompanied by 51 documents, including written submissions, maps, data sheets, reports, minutes, statistics and news articles, but considers that it lacked an expert technical report that precisely contradicted the content of the DIA.
The TSJC highlights that a good part of Turcón’s arguments did not allege a complete absence of environmental assessment, but rather an insufficient evaluation of the impacts. The judgment distinguishes between the two situations and concludes that questioning the intensity or sufficiency of an assessment already carried out requires particularly solid technical evidence.
Extensive assessment covering land, sea and heritage
The court stresses that the DIA was adopted following an extensive environmental process and that it examined the effects on the marine environment, the atmosphere, soil, subsoil, geodiversity, water, vegetation, fauna, habitats, the Natura 2000 network, the landscape, socio-economic effects, cultural heritage, the vulnerability of the project and cumulative and synergistic effects.
The ruling emphasises that the environmental declaration was favourable, but conditional. According to the court, it is a document of a dynamic nature, which can incorporate new conditions in light of the results of the environmental monitoring programme. The DIA set out fourteen conditions and ordered the creation of a technical monitoring committee, with representation from the regional government, the Cabildo of Gran Canaria and Red Eléctrica de España.
Another legal setback for opponents of the plant
This is a further legal blow for the environmental group opposed to the construction of the plant, after the Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) rejected another appeal brought by the same group in 2022, in which it sought precautionary measures against the execution of the plant project.
Meanwhile, another appeal brought by Turcón before the Supreme Court against the Canary Islands Government decree that authorised the Soria-Chira pumped-storage project continues to work its way through the system. The organisation turned to the higher court after another dismissive ruling by the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) last April.
Turcón recalled at the time that the decree (November 2025) from the Canary Islands Government approved the execution of the project known as the Chira-Soria pumped-storage hydroelectric plant, a revised version of the construction project (Modificado II), promoted by Red Eléctrica de España, SAU, and that it suspended the urban planning and territorial rules in force to accommodate the project. It is, Turcón stresses, a wholly unprecedented procedure, using exceptional articles and stripping protection from several natural areas in order to legitimise the construction of the works for the benefit of Red Eléctrica.
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