The bankrupt ‘Compañeros’ actor who warns Elon Musk about solar energy: “They will end up robbing you”

taketonews

04/15/2022

Act at 09:32

EST


– If it rains, are you also going to protest at the door of Congress, César?

– If it rains, I wear a raincoat. But yes, you will have me there from 8 in the morning, like every day for 8 months.

Eight months has the actor Cesar See (La Rioja, 1966) going to the door of the Congress of Deputies to protest the helpless situation in which he has been for more than 10 years: he invested in renewable energies and that led him to ruin.

He installed, when the Spanish Government encouraged him to do so, a solar park on land that his family owned in La Rioja. A series of changes in the legislation, as well as some political negligence, brought his project to ruin. Not so with his debts: close to a million euros left by César to place the solar installation it had to become his retirement plan.

Since then, the actor who rose to fame after his role in the series ‘Compañeros’ has devoted his life to protesting what he considers the greatest energy injustice in the history of our country. César Vea has staged two hunger strikes (15 days each), camping in front of the headquarters of the PSOE (the party that he considers directly responsible for his situation), a documentary and other protests dressed as clowns.

Now he stands daily at the door of Congress with a banner saying that he has been robbed. And in those he was caught publishing a tweet that removed him: Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and Paypal, and richest man in the world until further notice, wrote a message that said the following:

“Spain should build a massive solar array. It could power all of Europe”

The response of Spanish politicians was immediate. The former Minister of Science and Innovation, Pedro Duque, was the first to answer, uploading this answer:

“We welcome investments in Spain to boost our already large production of renewables. Our entire legal framework is prepared for it. Do you know any investors? & rdquor ;.

And the following was the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who jumped on the bandwagon of Elon Musk’s proposal by writing the following tweet:

“We are already applying the most ambitious plan towards an efficient and sustainable energy system. All sectors are involved, maximizing opportunities, digitization and the value chain for lasting success. The moment is now. Let’s do it right. Come and see. Investors are welcome in Spain & rdquor ;.

“They’re going to rob you”

– Where did the publication of Elon Musk’s tweet get you, César?

– Right where I am now: protesting at the door of Congress. And my reaction, well I don’t know if you can imagine it. But she kind of gave me an instant giggle. Then I uploaded another tweet giving my opinion to Elon Musk. But, if you are interested, I will say it again: Mr. Musk, do not invest in solar energy in Spain, because it will be ruined. Because, sooner or later, they are going to end up robbing you.

The actor explains it to El Periódico de España, a newspaper of the same group, Prensa Ibérica, as this newspaper, during his usual daily routine. César Vea has already abandoned the successive hunger strikes that found his bones in the hospital. He drags aftermath of the protests. During the Interview he stretches several times and massages his leg. Standing firm, rain or shine, for so long, has these vicissitudes. They are collateral damage of a protest that has led him to become popular at the door of Congress.

“The agents of the National Police come from time to time, they bring me water. They tell me that we have to see how I can stand there. I also usually see politicians of all parties pass by. I have talked to everyone. There are always good intentions, but at the moment of truth I have come across cases like Podemos, who assured me that they were going to vote in favor of solving our problem and then changed their minds,” he recalls.

“I piqued”

César Vea once again summarizes his journey in which a well-known actor decides to invest his life savings in a sustainable project and ends up with no plan, no money and the obligation to get rid of his properties in order to pay off his debts: “I have sold my house and a business that I had. And all for trusting the government and investing in something that was going to be positive not only for me, but for the whole country.”

In 2007 he decided to heed the BOE and embark on a project that sounded as brilliant as what it offered: the sun. “The sun can be yours” It was the slogan of a government advertising campaign. He proposed investing in the construction of small solar plants, with which Spain would end up self-sufficient in clean energy. It was the Spanish bet in the world race for renewables.

“It was an investment, but also a sustainable project, which is something I have always believed in. Investing in clean energy. Solar energy. We are the country in Europe with the most hours of sunshine. The energy market was opening up to small investors and we had the support of the Government. From the Government and the King, because all this was included in a Royal Decree & rdquor;

To convince investors, the Executive offered an attractive program of premiums and bonuses that, in the long run, was never fulfilled. “I bit like many of us. I did not see it as a business to get rich; I invested because I believed in renewable energies. And I keep doing it. Actually, that was the best project that has been invented in a long time, because we are talking about clean and free energy. If that was also going to allow my son to pay for his studies in the future, then much better & rdquor ;, he explains.

He spent all his savings, took a mortgage and put his belongings and those of his family as collateral, since his brother also decided to enter the solar farm business with him. It became a family project. He set up his ‘solar garden’ on land in La Rioja with the intention of expanding the business in the long term, when it began to be profitable. “I always say that this is a business for fools, because the first 12-15 years don’t make money. Everything that goes in is to pay for the installation. After that time, you start receiving benefits. But… Who gets into an investment today that will only generate money 15 years from now? You have to believe a lot in the project to get in, “she asks herself, without letting go of the banner.

speculate with the sun

Same as him, 62,000 families embarked on an investment that, as profitable as it seemed, fell into the realm of speculation. The banks began to sell it as another product. This caused the number of investors to overflow and, with them, the forecasts. When the Ministry of Industry began to make calculations, the sum of the investments was ten times greater than expected.

In 2010 the first cutback came: many more megawatts of power had been installed than initially estimated, because many more plants than expected had been installed. The then Minister of Industry, the socialist Miguel Sebastián, He said that the costs of technology had to be “rationalized” to justify the 30% cut in the bonuses promised to investors at the beginning. The PP, which while in opposition promised to ‘undo the mess’, not only did not solve it when it came to power, but also toughened conditions upon arrival with more cuts.

In the end, the hen from the sustainable eggs turned into a tocomocho. Investors changed the rules of the game with the game already started. They did not receive the agreed premiums, essential for those who had taken on debt to be able to pay for the installation of the plant.

From the National Association of Renewable Energy Producers and Investors (Anpier), its director Rafael Barrera said that his entity, made up of tens of thousands of families, is “in a dramatic situation”, not only financially, but also mentally. “These investments were motivated by regulations that promoted the development of photovoltaic generation. The families understood that it was a safe and ethical investment. It caught on, especially in rural environments, where there is a cooperative culture. And now they are as they are.”

There were especially bloody cases. Like the one in Vea, whose autonomous community (La Rioja), governed by the PP, authorized the installation of the plant. Then he Ministry of Industry (in the hands of the PSOE at that time) knocked it down. Administrative inconsistencies that the investor ended up paying. “Like me, there are about 60 families affected. And this problem has caused the death of people. There have been suicides and all of us who are involved in this know that. In my house, our family situation has been very difficult. for everyone since we got into solar power. My sister ended up dying of cancer and I’m sure this affected her,” explains César Vea.

national fund

After more than 10 years of fighting, those affected seem to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Legislation has since changed as it affects solar energy. In the end, it is the PP that will present, in the next session of Congress, an amendment to the bill for the creation of the National Fund for the sustainability of the electrical system.

The ‘popular’ spokesman Juan Diego Requena explains to this newspaper that “this amendment wants to correct this situation of injustice with those small investors who put their savings to produce clean, cheap energy free of CO2 emissions, and that due to a bureaucratic issue , they do not receive the regulated remuneration”.

César Vea, who from his position of protest often sees the spokesmen of all the political parties with a presence in the Cortes pass by, is optimistic for the first time. He has spoken with all the parties and says that they have assured him that all, except the PSOE and perhaps the PNV, will vote in favor of the amendment. The entire political arc, from VOX to Podemos, voting in favor of an amendment of the popular. It’s complicated, but the actor and the 62,000 families who put their savings into that miraculous financial product cling to it.

But in addition to the money, it hurts Vea “that such an important project in Spain as solar energy has been stopped. We could generate power to supply two planets. Self-sufficient energy communities would have been generated and we would not have to be aware of the disproportionate rises in the price of electricity or the lack of supply that we are facing now”.



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