In just a decade, the name of Forestalia went from being heard in the offices of Zaragoza to presiding over the renewable fever maps in Spain. While it accumulates gigawatts and negotiates with industrial giants, the Aragonese company advances its great expansion surrounded by a persistent murmur: signatures of former political leaderscomplaints over alleged fragmentation of projects and doubts over environmental permits.
Forestalia was born in 2011, promoted by the Zaragoza businessman Fernando Sampermember of a family historically linked to the agri-food industry through one of the giants of the Aragonese meat sector, the Jorge Group. Fernando was the eldest of the brothers and heirs to the conglomerate, but the differences between them opened a divide that would eventually push him towards a new adventure.
At that time, in the midst of an economic crisis, the renewable energy market was in crisis, but Samper kept his bet. The turning point came in 2016, when it was awarded more than 400 MW during the first ministerial auction after years of blockade, positioning itself as a new benchmark compared to large traditional electricity companies.
From there, the company has had a string of successes in new calls for tender, until it accumulated several gigawatts awarded and consolidated its image as “new king clean energy in Spain. Currently he has more than 1,500 MW of wind energy built and in operation and nearly 500 MW of photovoltaics, particularly in the regions of the province of Zaragoza.
The renewable growth of Aragon becomes the ideal breeding ground for Forestalia’s next step: becoming an energy partner for large industrial projects. The company has entered into a strategic agreement with Chinese company CGE to develop approximately 1,000 MW of renewable energy to power the battery gigafactory that Stellantis and CATL They are projected in the province of Zaragoza.
And Samper did not want to go unnoticed in the face of the new controversial “boom” that Aragon has experienced over the last two years. Barely a month ago, the project of Forestalia data centers in three municipalities of Zaragoza, which will represent the second largest investment in the history of Aragon, to the tune of 12 billion euros.
The other side of success: revolving doors, accusations and complaints
The group’s meteoric rise arouses suspicion in the sector and in part of the territory, who see Forestalia as the emblem of a “renewable bubble» with which Aragon boasts of being chief in energy production.
One of the most controversial issues has been signature of former senior officials of the government of Aragon, which fueled the perception of revolving door in a particularly sensitive context: that of energy planning and licensing of renewable macro parks in rural areas.
Among the signatures were those of Julio TejedorLambán’s right arm between 2015 and 2021; Alfredo Bonéhistoric leader of PAR and environmental advisor to Marcelino Iglesias (PSOE) from 2002 to 2011; either Luis Marruedowith different positions both with Iglesias and the popular Luisa Fernanda Rudi (2011-2015).
Other accusations that cast a shadow over the development of Forestalia This is the alleged division of projects into several smaller files, of less than 50 MW. This means that the authorization remains in the hands of the Government of Aragon, through the Institute of Environmental Management (Inaga), and does not reach the offices of the Ministry. The director of Inaga at the time, Jesús Lobera, claimed that all 49.9 MW projects close to each other were evaluated jointly.
Inaga’s work was also affected during the 2023 electoral campaign. Two years previously, the Government of Aragon had to hire three consultants, “Satel”, “See Qualitas” and “Quality and Studies” to unlock the enormous volume of renewable projects that they had on the table, despite the fact that they had previously worked with Forestalia.
Social and political pressure has led to a commission of inquiry to the Cortes of Aragon, who tried to clarify whether, under the Lambán government, there had been irregularities in the granting of licenses for renewable installations, with Forestalia in the center of focus.
The heads of these consultancies have rejected any accusations and strongly denied having reported on any matter they had previously worked on, “not even for Forestalia nor for any other promoter. This commission ended without detecting any indication of delinquency, not even in the possible division of projects.
The accusations against Forestalia have not stopped in recent months. In August, the citizen movement Teruel Existen denounced the fact that the Ministry environmental authorization refused to Green Capital’s wind projects in the same points of the Matarraña where, two years ago, yes, he gave the green light at Forestalia parks.
Today, the name Forestalia has spread throughout the world.Cerdán affair‘. As reported by EL ESPAÑOL, Antxon Alonso and Santos Cerdán have taken steps to ensure that the group Forestalia obtained environmental authorization to build a great electric highway of 270 km between Aragon and the Basque Country. However, its construction did not obtain the approval of any of the autonomy concerned.
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