Go now to Perda 'e Liana, go there before someone distorts the exclusive charm of that unlimited proscenium that touches the Barbagia of Seulo-Seui from the sky. Immortalize that thousand-year-old landscape that still stands out iconically among monumental geological spiers and primordial views. Do it while you still have time. In this endless race for energy-financial speculation that is overwhelming Sardinia, there is someone who has had the unhealthy idea of challenging even that limestone-dolomite altar that stands out among the heels of Ogliastra.
Straight leg
The claims of the wind oilmen have reached that far, in front of that majestic tower that dominates the horizon between Seui, Ulassai, Ussasai and Esterzili. They did it as usual without knocking, entering with a straight leg into one of the most prized habitats in the heart of the island. Three days ago the counter of the Ministry of the Environment "uploaded" project number 289 of the wind assault on Sardinia: «"Alientu" park made up of 10 wind turbines with a nominal power of 6.8 MW, for a total power of 68 megawatts in Municipality of Seui".
Steel jungle
They call it a "park", in reality it is a "steel jungle" to be positioned at the highest points of that celestial line that connects the sky with Barbagia. If Perda 'e Liana reaches 1,293 meters above sea level, the new skyscrapers of the “wind oil companies” will reach 1,060 metres, almost competing with that wild tower set like a diamond in a unique landscape.
Oil & wind
In the landing plan, devised in the highest spheres of world finance, between one barrel and another of oil, there is a name that Sardinia has known well for at least 57 years: Saras, acronym for "Società Anonima Raffinerie Sarde". The long arm of oil has a name and surname engraved in history: Angelo Moratti, the patriarch who with the blessing of Giulio Andreotti, then Minister of Industry, Commerce and Crafts, back in 1966, took over the Gulf of Angels without too many shocks, to transform it into a receptacle for poisons and chimneys. Now that that refinery, after having earned billions and billions of profits, is coming to an end and the land that "hosted" it is boiling with benzene, lead and vanadium, Moratti's heirs are selling everything, financial holdings, shares and plants, those oil and wind energy ones, including the one just filed with the Ministry which must deal with "energy speculation" in Sardinia. It is written in the official note sent to the Milan Stock Exchange: we are selling everything to Vitol, the world's leading oil trader , a subject with many open legal cases all over the world and a controversial relationship with Putin's Russia. In the preliminary sale they write it without subterfuge: in addition to the Gulf of Angels refinery we will also sell the wind farms in Sardinia, those in operation and those planned. That's it: Saras, with its "Sardeolica", the windy arm of the refinery, is making a profit on a project that not only has it just presented to the ministry, but which overturns one of Sardinia's paradises with impunity, in a land that has just been reunited with Ogliastra dei Tacchi. A project as ill-timed as it is invasive, capable of violating an area dotted with primates, nuragic and naturalistic, environmental and identity-related. A further assault conceived and based in the ministerial chambers when the Moratti stock exchange shares were already in transit towards Amsterdam and Geneva, operational and fiscal headquarters of the most imperceptible of the world's oil operators, Vitol. However, an unanswered question weighs heavily on this project: why did Saras, in the process of selling its shareholdings to foreign oil producers, decide to inflict this latest environmental sacrilege on Sardinia? Elements that will have to be clarified as soon as the share transfers are defined, given that Saras has 171 megawatts of wind plants already operational in its wind portfolio and 593 megawatts of declared projects in the preliminary phase. It is a question of understanding whether and with what percentage of success the Moratti family also sold the “Alientu” project to Vitol, the wind farm to be built on the horizon of Perda 'e Liana. We are talking about latest generation wind turbines, with a potential of 6.8 megawatts each, with a total plant power of 66 megawatts. A wind farm capable of putting almost ten million euros a year in the owners' pockets in incentives alone, a business to be consumed entirely on the peaks of Ogliastra. And the impact of these steel monsters, each two hundred meters high, will be devastating.
Concrete craters
The mountains will be eviscerated by ten craters destined for imposing reinforced concrete foundations on which to raise those steel skyscrapers designed to produce incentives and millions of euros galore. All destined for the oil coffers of Saras or Vitol, certainly not for Sardinia and the Sardinians. For the landscape it will be a disaster, despite the usual attempt to sweeten the pill with renderings and photosimulations, which are most often carried out in front of a wall or a hedge. The reality is quite different .
Everywhere you turn
Everywhere you go up and turn, you see those ten banners of wind-oil business in the land of wind, of course. You reach Nuraghe Salei in Seui and you find a gigantic one in front of you, like a punch in the face, with the others deployed on the horizon to devastate the high-altitude skyline of these exclusive landscapes. If you look out over the Nuraghe S'enna and s'omini, still in the peaks of Seui, you see three of them in the foreground, if you move over the nuraghe of Ussassai you see them all lined up like a barrier of high altitude fans. It doesn't change when you move to the side of Nuraghe Soperis in Esterzili: the view would be ruthlessly devastated by all ten Saras-branded wind turbines. You will see them from any angle you go to examine the Barbagia of Seui, from the access road to the Ulassai Enduro park to the Nuraghe Urceni in Osini. And, finally, all ten will stand out and be seen, impressive and devastating, on the horizon of Perda 'e Liana in Gairo. A continuous soaring of wind turbines over the entire horizon, in an area rich like few others on a geological and archaeological level, dotted with dozens of Nuragic monuments, from the most important of Nuraghe Arrubiu in Orroli to those spread out like a crown across the entire Barbagia of Seulo . An exclusive itinerary crossed by a breathtaking green train, destined to discover the charm of wild nature now at risk of wind invasion.
5 jobs
The wind oil companies believe it and announce brilliant economic and employment benefits. They write: «the related activities generated by the construction of the wind farm will encourage employment growth in the area by creating new jobs both in the construction and management phases of the plant». They promise some alms to the Municipality, «the hiring of 88 “resources” for approximately 18 months and the direct hiring of 5 employees for the management of the Park during its operation phase». In short, 5 jobs in exchange for the devastation of the stage of Perda 'e Liana. A deal, just for them.
