Renewable energy speculation brewing a storm in Sardinia

euronews (in English)

The windswept Italian island is a prime location for harvesting the energy of the future. But residents fear poor planning of wind farms and unregulated speculation will turn their homeland into a European Wild West for renewables.

Transcript

00:00We see ourselves in our territories under assault.

00:08We ask that the energy transition be regulated.

00:14Innovation always creates concern because it must be known to communicate and above all it must be made clear the advantages.

00:22Renewables are also an opportunity, even if they are only a problem.

00:26Look at this magnificent horizon that may be compromised by a forest of wind turbines.

00:44In the industrial area of Porto Scuso, in the southwest of Sardinia,

00:48the tower of the Svetta thermoelectric plant, next to a quarry of wind turbines.

00:56It is one of the three Sardinian power plants that, by burning coal or wasting oil,

01:00produce 75% of the regional electric energy.

01:06Around me there are the symbols of the challenge that Europe has undertaken,

01:09the end of fossil fuels and the development of renewable energies.

01:13The past is the future, but in the present the management of the energy transition unleashes a wave of protest.

01:26Giancarlo Ballisai, a retired psychologist and one of the founders of a committee of residents against energy speculation.

01:37He brings us to his land in Porto Scuso,

01:40already partly expropriated during the construction of one of the largest wind turbines in Italy,

01:45finished in 2011.

01:48In this area here, there is a project for 213 hectares of photovoltaic plant.

01:55On the other hand, there is another project of 73 hectares.

02:00We ask that the energy transition be regulated,

02:06respecting the rights of the residents, of the landowners, and that there is an economic return.

02:14We leave for the nearby municipality of Nuragi Figus to meet a member of the committee.

02:20The land of his family business is at risk of being expropriated.

02:24He will host a substation to collect the energy produced by the new wind and photovoltaic plants.

02:31In this area there are planned more than 12 projects.

02:34Each project involves about 1,200 unexpropriated particles.

02:39A total devastation.

02:41Many people do not know anything yet and are unaware of everything.

02:45Without this land, Venancio worries, the future of his family is at risk.

02:52This land is a single oasis left in this territory,

02:56already devastated and polluted by other industrial realities.

03:00They will expropriate it, with the figures from 0.58 to just over 2 euros per square meter.

03:07Who lived from this, I do not know how, with what other form of substation, will be able to live.

03:16Three years of delay in the national law on areas suitable

03:20have caused the demand for new projects to explode.

03:23Sardinia has received more than 800 requests,

03:26enough to produce 56 gigawatts of green energy,

03:306.2 that the island should produce by 2030,

03:34to reach zero emissions in Europe in 2050.

03:44But how much renewable energy does Sardinia need?

03:48How many of these requests could go well?

03:51I asked one of the greatest national experts in the field, at the University of Cagliari.

03:57Objectively, we are facing a massive demand for authoritative routes,

04:03which are still at the beginning.

04:05We are not facing an invasion of plants.

04:10According to Pilo, no more than ten gigawatts will be made in Sardinia

04:15and will serve mainly to the needs of the region, once the fossil fuel plants are closed.

04:22These 6 gigawatts, which some estimate by 2050 should be 10,

04:28this is the largest number that can circulate,

04:31of these 10, we have already made 2 gigawatts,

04:34will be able to cover the entire new electrical demand in the transition to the future.

04:42If only a part of these 800 requests will go to the port,

04:46where will the plants be set up and who will decide?

04:52From these questions a political case was born.

04:55The newly elected president of the region has blocked from July all authorizations

05:01with a moratorium quickly imposed by the government.

05:06We have faced the issue of aligning this tide of authorizations with a suspension,

05:12which had the task of taking time to build a regional law

05:18for suitable areas, for non-suitable areas, for ordinary areas and for those linked.

05:24The president intends to use the moratorium to define a regional energy plan,

05:28especially to create a local energy company.

05:33We have an opportunity insofar as we can produce electricity,

05:38and the price is made by the producers.

05:40Sardinia has the possibility of having an active role

05:43and not to undergo third-party energy production management.

05:51In the wait for a regional energy plan and the definition of suitable areas,

05:56a fortnight of projects authorized in advance are released to the moratorium.

06:01One of these is in the municipality of Villa Cidro.

06:06Look at the size of these blades.

06:08They are intended for one of the nine aerogenerators of Villa Cidro's Ionic Park,

06:13under construction after 16 years of inter-bureaucratic and the approval of three municipal administrations,

06:19and despite this, today strongly contested.

06:24Antonio Muschias, mechanical engineer, is a member of the Local Committee Against Energy Speculation.

06:31He is convinced that multinationals leave only crumbs to the territory, facilitated by state decrees.

06:38Compensations are not economic.

06:40They are work compensations that can be the realization of cycle paths.

06:45These are not compulsory compensations that can never exceed 3% of the costs of these plants.

06:55According to Antonio, a correct energy transition

06:58passes through the revision of the entire energy market.

07:03Electricity production cannot be left in the hands of the private sector.

07:08It is necessary for the public to intervene here,

07:11because the number and the power of the plants must be adequately calibrated

07:16with respect to our needs.

07:23The Sardinian Sea has also ended up in the sights of multinationals,

07:26and the government has to decide on offshore plants.

07:30But the National Plan for the Management of Maritime Space is still missing.

07:34In fact, the ITER of the projects goes on without rules

07:38that indicate where to place the plants and how.

07:43More than 20 projects have been presented for the realization of offshore wind turbines.

07:48Eight of these could be installed here,

07:51off the coast of the island of San Pietro,

07:54on the routes of the Tonni and the Falco della Regina.

08:00The ITER of the ICNUSA Wind Power is in the advanced phase,

08:03a project behind which there is also the multinational with state participation, ENI.

08:08The population is lined up against.

08:13This plant consists of 42 mega wind turbines,

08:16of 285 meters in height at the highest point.

08:21It is an island of 30 km in length and 10 km in width.

08:28So, in our opinion, there will be a devastating and irreversible impact on the marine environment.

08:42The administration of Carlo Forte has expressed negative opinions on offshore projects.

08:47The requests of the municipality have been ignored for the moment.

08:52It is not even possible to read the entire history of the practice,

08:58because some parts have been covered,

09:02so it is not possible to have a clear understanding of the studies

09:08in support of their conclusions,

09:11on the fact that the impacts would be null or absolutely limited

09:16and that they would be of a short period.

09:2250 years.

09:24It is roughly the lifespan of these plants that are being built today.

09:29What will these coasts and these territories be like in 50 years?

09:35Here in Sardinia and in Europe,

09:37population and territory already pay the errors of the past,

09:40also in the name of renewable energies.

09:43Repairing the damage is expensive and not always possible.

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