Excellent news for southern Gran Canaria, which, in case investors in Las Palmas are unaware, is a tourist destination. Offshore wind power in southern Gran Canaria is facing a legal obstacle that jeopardizes the deployment of 250 megawatts of clean energy. The National Court, in a ruling issued on February 25, 2026, upheld the administrative injunction against the plans of the Galician company Greenalia. The judges supported the decision of the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) to deny access to the electricity grid through the Barranco de Tirajana III substation.
The legal conflict stems from the permitting strategy employed by Manuel García Pardo's group. The Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines detected an artificial fragmentation of the overall project. The company attempted to register five separate 50-megawatt wind farms—named Gofio, Guanche, Cardón, Mojo, and Dunas—instead of a single 250-megawatt complex. This maneuver aimed to circumvent the stricter regulations and mandatory competitive bidding processes required for large-scale installations.
The High Court of Justice of Galicia already warned in 2023 about the distortion of the system caused by occupying a specific maritime area in San Bartolomé de Tirajana without going through the competitive bidding process. The judges maintain that the environmental and technical impact of several adjacent parks is equal to or greater than that of a single large infrastructure project. This ruling has eliminated four of the five submitted projects, with only the Gofio park remaining in the company's catalog of future assets.
Greenalia filed a complaint with the National Court alleging that the regulator based its decision on false premises and exceeded its authority by judging the application process. The electricity company's defense argued that the CNMC (National Markets and Competition Commission) could not block access to the grid based on an alleged lack of guarantees. The court has emphatically dismissed these complaints. The ruling clarifies that the inadequacy of the general procedure compared to the competitive bidding process automatically invalidates applications for access to the transmission network.
This legal setback coincides with a strategic shift for the company, which has moved its investment focus toward the photovoltaic market in the United States. The blockade imposed on the Canary Islands' coast by Red Eléctrica (the Spanish electricity grid operator), the Ministry for Ecological Transition, and the courts closes the door to expedited processing. The courts emphasize that regulations governing larger solar parks cannot be circumvented by dividing projects into smaller ones, thus guaranteeing free competition and rigorous control of the maritime space in the south of the island.
