The energy plant that will be installed in the enclave will cost more than 550,000 euros
The Spanish Chafarinas or Alborán Islands are some of the territories under Spanish sovereignty located outside the peninsula. They are part of the remains of the old Spanish colonial establishments in North Africa, which are today gaining importance due to geopolitical issues and the supposed military “provocation” of Spain towards Morocco after the installation of power plants solar energy in these archipelagos.
The recent installations of solar power plants in these inhospitable and unknown areas by the Spanish army were perceived by the Moroccan media as a “military provocation” towards their country. Indeed, Rabat has historically claimed these enclaves, as well as Ceuta and Melilla, although good relations keep the subject latent, according to a recent article in La Razón.
The Chafarinas form an archipelago located 3.5 kilometers from the Moroccan coast, east of Melilla, which has belonged to Spain since 1848 when these islands were occupied by an expedition led by General Serrano with several warships coming from Malaga, explains researcher Santiago Domínguez in his article “Brief history of the Chafarinas Islands”.
The archipelago is made up of Congress Island, Isabel II Island, and King Island. Isabel II Island, the largest of the three, had up to a thousand inhabitants and even housed a casino, but currently, all the islands are devoid of a stable population and only a small military garrison and scientific staff.
For its part, the island of Alborán is a Spanish islet of volcanic origin located in the western part of the Mediterranean Sea, about 55 km north of the Moroccan coast and 85 km south of the province of Almería, in Spain. It has been under Spanish possession since 1540, after being wrested from the Tunisian corsair Al-Borany during the Battle of Alborán. Currently, it belongs to the municipality of Almería and its lighthouse is administered by the Port of Almería. The western part of the Mediterranean, from Gibraltar to Cape Gata, takes its name, being called the Alborán Sea.
The solar power plant project
The installation of the photovoltaic solar power plant is part of a Ministry of Defense project on the Chafarinas Islands, an enclave under Spanish sovereignty facing the Moroccan coast.
The project is financed by the European Funds of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan (PRTR) and will have an estimated cost of more than 550,000 euros, according to the specifications.
The solar power plant project aims for storage by lithium batteries via a compact solution and will be used to ensure the supply of the army detachment assigned there.
