Solar Savings In the red

BENIDORM city council is undertaking the placement of 548 solar panels on the roof of Benidorm sports hall.

The installation is covered under the Energy Efficiency Project which also covers three other municipal buildings and eight primary schools. At the same time, work is also being carried out to install solar panels on the town hall.

The project, which entails increasing the existing number of panels on the sports facility, will lead to significant savings in energy bills, in addition to significantly reducing CO2 emissions.

It has been calculated that the approximate savings on the bill "will be 50%", as specified by the councillor for public spaces, Francis Muñoz. Muñoz visited the facilities on Friday, July 28, and was accompanied by municipal technicians and managers of the installation

Employment rise

UNEMPLOYMENT in the Valencian Community decreased by 41,100 people during the second quarter of 2023 and the unemployment rate dropped to 12.20 per cent, reaching 311,300 unemployed.

The Valencian territory is the fourth autonomous community where unemployment dropped the most between April and June, according to the Active Population Survey published on Thursday, July 27, by the National Institute of Statistics.

Compared to the same period of the previous year, the number of unemployed in the region has decreased by 7,300 people. While the number of employed reached 2.24 million, which represents an increase of 1.55 per cent in quarter­on­quarter terms and 3.35 per cent when compared to the same period in 2022, there are now 72,700 more employed people.

The UGT Trade Union Action Secretary, Lola Ruiz, affirmed that the reduction in unemployment has benefitted the female sector and although it is low in general, more women have found jobs.

company.

Total production will be 351,572 kWh and the estimated annual savings will be 290,000 kWh. Concerning the energy bills, the savings calculated are around €32,500 per year, and the reduction in emissions will be 190 tonnes of CO2.

THE three parties that make up the new municipal government of Javea released a statement on Thursday, July, 27, indicating that the town is in severe financial trouble.

“We proceed to communicate the economic situation in which Javea council finds itself. Upon our arrival, we took over the government, whose municipal coffers are at a minimum, with an extended 2022 budget.

The items from the 2023 budget are exhausted and the 2022 budget has not yet been settled. This has the consequence that the remaining funding is blocked. The council is prevented from having the remainder of more than €50 million to cover the daily needs of the municipality.

For this reason, activities planned by the previous government, which were only announced and lacked the corresponding administrative procedure and bud­ get allocation, are cancelled or postponed.

The town hall has not yet said what the rebound effects of losing a huge amount of funding will be, nor the amount involved.

No Valencian Cereal

CEREAL cultivation in the Valencian Community threatens to disappear if urgent measures are not taken. The drought has caused the loss of entire crops this season and agricultural insurance only covers a minimum proportion of production. The lack of spring rains and the increase in temperatures caused serious problems in the vegetative development of cereal and fodder crops intended mainly for the production of raw material for livestock feed.

“While last season the production costs derived from the purchase of seeds, fertilizers and diesel were barely covered, this season the sector is facing millions in losses, as it cannot harvest or seeds to plant the next season” lamented the head of the cereal sector of the Valencian Association of Farmers (AVAASAJA), Antonio Miguel Álvaro Sebastián.

The Russian blockade of grain shipments from Ukraine added to the problem, as Spain is the main importing country of this grain that is used to manufacture livestock feed. "The price of straw is already double and the costs are increasing exponentially," said Miguel. For this reason, AVA­ASAJA, called on all public administrations to implement aid that encourages cereal growing, as well as the increase in agricultural insurance coverage for farm production.