Dozens of photo-agrivoltaic systems and hundreds of wind turbines for a potential of 3.41 gigawatts, more than half of the production expected by the Government for Sardinia. Why is there such great interest in the Medio Campidano area?
Laura Cadeddu: «It has a flat territory, ideal for this purpose and with decidedly affordable costs. Companies take advantage of the agricultural crisis, we are guinea pigs in the experimentation of agrivoltaics on a regional scale. There is no certain data, they want to monitor the energy production associated with agricultural production, we are the test bed." Giuseppe De Fanti: «What has attracted the agrivoltaic plants between Guspini, Gonnosfanadiga, San Gavino and Pabillonis is Terna's intention to build a substation towards Montevecchio on an area of 12 hectares, a true electric city. We contested the project, which could have been inserted in the industrial area of Guspini instead of in a "virgin" area. They especially want to occupy land intended for sheep farming with industrial, not agricultural, plants."
Michele Zucca: «The choice of areas depends on an analysis of the companies: they go where it makes the most money. The managers of one of these companies candidly admitted that they had chosen our area both for the ease of purchasing land and because they have a single owner and they cost less."
Maurizio Onnis: «On the territory of Villanovaforru of just 11 square kilometers at the moment there are three different projects which also concern Sanluri and Sardara, 25-27 shovels, it depends on what they establish with the Ministry. The emissaries of one of the three companies involved came to the Town Hall for the project of a blade to be placed in the same point where a French company wants to install another wind tower. They calmly told me: “It's no problem, this is a gold rush and we want to participate.” The only criterion is the search for profit, let's stop calling it the energy transition, this is a new phase of the industrial revolution and, as in all states of progress from the eighteenth century to today, someone must gain a lot and others must lose. We are the ones destined to lose and that's not good."
The risks for agriculture, landscape and tourism?
Cadeddu: «Projects capable of producing 800 megawatts gravitate towards the Guspinese area, enough to satisfy half a million people. They are all located at the foot of scenarios of particular beauty: the Phoenician-Punic remains of Neapolis, the Arcuentu chain, the nuraghi. Even from a tourist point of view there would be a depreciation in the value of land near the coastal strip, also because tourists do not want to walk on mirrors and shovels. They want to transform the countryside into an industrial area, a disaster while production from fossil fuels is not blocked."
De Fanti: «The worst is the destruction of the landscape, which has been occurring for thousands of years but will be overturned in a few months. Agrivoltaic systems have much more impact than photovoltaic ones, because they are taller to house the crops underneath. Many plants adjacent to each other would have a devastating landscape effect, but the environmental impact assessment is only carried out for each individual plant. We have around two hundred agricultural companies which, in these conditions, would have a strong incentive not to continue their activity".
Zucca: «When we try to put the Nuragic heritage under the UNESCO umbrella, the objective becomes unattainable if we don't respect the territory surrounding the archaeological sites. Visitors to the Barumini palace would only have to look up to clearly see the shovels placed only three kilometers and two hundred meters away. This is demonstrated by the photo simulations which, despite the efforts of the designers, show the towers clearly visible from Su Nuraxi or from the Giara plateau. The other consequence will be the abandonment of the land by those who cultivate it today."
Onnis: «A practical example: in Collinas, two kilometers away from Villanovaforru, there is a Sorgenia project which also includes a two hundred meter high wind turbine 750 meters from the Genna Maria nuraghe, in the running to become a world heritage site. An aberration from all points of view. Let's give away for three or four a good from which we could get a hundred. It is proof that the Sardinians, as a people, don't have the slightest idea of what they want and where they want to go. By historical fortune this regional government finds itself managing the situation, if there were the right political force an overall project should be put on the table. Instead, in the conditions we find ourselves in, we are at the mercy of whoever comes along. At the mayors' desk - without any filter - the French, Piedmontese and Romans come to say "we are doing this and that" and you can't say anything."
Are there different rules for companies that focus on renewables than for citizens and businesses?
Cadeddu: «All the projects that fall within the Pnrr and the Pniec benefit from accelerated procedures which have restricted the spaces of citizens and Municipalities. They have also weakened the Superintendency of Archaeological Heritage which can object but its opinion is not binding. We would have help if the regional landscape plan were extended to internal areas, but these are constraints that not everyone accepts. Some environmental goods cannot be traded, if we open that door we will never be able to go back."
De Fanti: «Citizens and businesses, even for practices of little importance, must follow long and complex processes. These systems, with the excuse that they are for the common interest, skip all the steps. In the countryside, for example, you can only build one-storey houses, but the shovels are hundreds of meters high."
Zucca: «There is no longer any regulatory effect, it's a gold rush. The constraints linked to the Giara territory also weigh on Barumini, with construction limits higher than normal, each step must have a favorable landscape relationship. Why can renewable energy plants do without it?
Onnis: «It took me two and a half years to register the energy community with the GSE even though it was a very simple procedure. It is a precise political choice, we want to support the projects of the giant plants overlooking the interests of the local populations."
Have you met with company representatives? Are they Sardinian? What did they offer you?
Cadeddu: «They don't meet those who fight against the projects».
De Fanti: «Only a few. The most substantial offer we have received is consultancy to create an energy community. In recent days we were contacted by the lawyer of a group of these companies - at that moment we discovered that they are all connected - who proposed the creation of a municipal park. Crumbs compared to systems that cost 100 million euros. The local procurers are the ones who procure the areas, those who push the initiative are professionals who come from outside."
Zucca: «We met the representatives of the only project, despite the rejection by the city council. The representatives of GRWind srl proposed 500 thousand euros for the five municipalities affected by the 17 blades. The procedure is still in the environmental impact assessment phase."
Onnis: «Of the three companies that have designs on Villanovaforru, one never made itself heard, the other had the face of three Milanese people who came to the Town Hall just to tell me that they would install wind turbines, and the third was represented by four Sardinians with whom I argued: "Aren't you ashamed of selling off your territory"?
The identikit of the person selling the land?
Cadeddu: «Landowners who prefer to cede surface rights. In agrivoltaics, however, there must be an agricultural entrepreneur who - perhaps many don't know this - will soon be subjected to industrial taxation. Industrial and agricultural lobbies have managed to block this turning point for now, but it will change."
De Fanti: «Agricultural entrepreneurs who are elderly and professionals from families who own land. They receive three thousand euros per hectare per year for thirty years, if they will give it to them. One of them told me: “I just need them to pay for the first two years”. The annoying thing is that in recent times some have posed as custodians of the territory and then hand it over for thirty denarii."
Zucca: «Still no sales in Barumini».
Onnis: «Active farmer or owner who does not use the land. Many survive on European subsidies, they explain to you: "They give me more money than I earn from work." There is an esteemed professional from Sanluri who rented thirty hectares for twenty years, he had half paid immediately and the rest in installments."
How can the assault be stopped?
Cadeddu: «With programming. The Region could re-discuss the minimum limit of 6.2 gigawatts. The moratorium will not solve the problem."
De Fanti: «We should put a limit on the amount of energy to be produced. Slowing down the procedures through the courts is positive, because it could turn out that with the uncertainty it is not advantageous to throw yourself into this undertaking. And then impose real taxation because most of the money ends up abroad, not even in Italy."
Zucca: «The moratorium, although not conclusive, is a buffer. In the meantime, the judicial process can help, we have appealed against the Tuili plant and have managed to slow down the process.
Onnis: «We need to start a discussion with the State based on the article of the statute which also assigns competence over energy production to the Region».
The block through an urban planning law based on the primary competence of the Region?
Cadeddu: «The law for the government of the territory is important, but with so many interests at stake it is difficult to get it to fruition. And regarding suitable areas I say: be careful, those suitable for wind power may not be suitable for geothermal, hydroelectric and all the others".
De Fanti: «Maybe yes in the future, but it seems difficult to me that he will be able to block the procedures already authorized».
Zucca: «It could be a solution but it is complex».
Onnis: «I'm not expert enough to answer».
Mariella Careddu
Marcello Cocco
Paolo Paolini