Why is the energy transition so late in Catalonia?

Beyond the orography and the bureaucracy, the struggle of various environmental sectorswho have risen up against projects such as the wind farm in the Alt Empordà, very close to the Albera Natural Park.

From Ecologists in ActionThey have shown worry by the avalanche of Projects that accumulate waiting for the approval of the Generalitat. The entity is located in the same line Xarxa Catalana Energy Transitionwhich defends the installation of renewables without damaging natural spaces.

“We are not against renewables, but we want them in atrophic and degraded areas, not in the natural environment or in agricultural areas,” he explains. Enric Sibina, from Salvem Les Viudes, a platform against a wind farm that is intended to be installed in Anoia. “We defend a different model, in which the same fossil energy companies are not leading the projects,” he adds.

Collectives like this, there are several in Catalonia. They intend to prevent wind turbines from being close to inhabited areas, due to noise. They also believe that the plants should not be concentrated so close to each other: “Everything is concentrated in the southern part of Catalonia and in the form of large parks. We bet on more distributed wind turbines and not so concentrated in high density in the same place” .

A recent study of Observatory for Sustainability It showed that there are 38,000 hectares of degraded soil that could be used to build solar parks that supply 8 million people without having to resort to the natural environment. This is the path defended by most of the platforms that up to now have opposed some projects. “We demand an orderly and urgent plan to decide where what goes. It does not help us that companies present projects and the Government accepts them”, settles Sibina.

From renew us They are committed to listening to the scientific community and stopping some of the planned projects if it is shown that they can cause problems in ecosystems. However, they intend to flee from “no to everything”. “The value of the landscape in Catalan identity is important. For this reason, civil society is empowered to defend it. A sector of citizens sees a value of their quality of life as the landscape threatened. To solve it, compensation is necessary in the territory and respect for the environment on the part of the projects, which are usually less harmful than current models”.

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