They went to get them from the other side of the world. Ningde, extreme north-eastern China, in front of Taiwan, on the map of Mao Tse-Tung's empire, lies on the banks of Fujian, a cutting-edge green province in the infamous People's Republic of China. To land in the desolate land of Sulcis, closed or perpetually half-open factories crossed oceans around the world, overcoming bad weather and wars, bans and sanctions.
From China to Carlo Felice
The theoretical ten thousand kilometers as the crow flies, and almost triple that by sea, were not enough for him to reach that piece of land hidden among industrial and electrical rubble in the Portovesme enclave. To get that caravan of military-green containers to arrive, they even chose the ordeal of the Carlo Felice, from Porto Torres to the extreme south of the island. For weeks the report, photographed and detailed, had been circulating in the WhatsApp messages of regular visitors to that strip of asphalt that crosses Sardinia from north to south. The message is cryptic precisely because of that object unknown to most, transported on driving wheels, complete with a timer and thermometer in the back, with indecipherable symbols and hieroglyphs.
Year of the Dragon
For Xi Jinping's China, 2024 is the year of the Dragon, for Sulcis that of the wild boar at the end of January, the closing day of the hunt, or rather of capitulation. An era is ending, that of industrial and electrical production, it is the surrender without resistance to China's energy dependence. From the thermoelectric power plant dedicated to Grazia Deledda, which throughout history has powered more than half of Sardinia, to Chinese batteries the step is short, sneaky and cowardly. Passed off as green , inexorable and modern, to become the new "noose" around the neck of the entire island.
Refuge of sin
To find out where those unknown "crates" end up, you have to leave aside the main streets of the industrial network of Portovesme. The choice of the "rifugium pectorirum" is in the rear, away from prying and nosy eyes, between the industrial archeology of the old power station, reduced to old iron and never reclaimed, and the crumbling signs of the "new" one but still falling to pieces for some time . It is there, between the "fevered" "Portovesme srl" and the faded effigy of Enel, the state body created in the early sixties to nationalize electricity, to give light and driving force also to the poor areas of the country , who have decided to position the energy massacre of Sardinia. The square transformed into a football field is below road level, regardless of differences in height and waterways, hydrogeological risk and flooding.
Everything is allowed
After all, in this no man's land, you can always do what you want, from polluting to burying waste, imagine if anyone has raised the issue of that mountain of lithium that is being positioned in what was the industrial heart of Sulcis. Not even a sign on the road front: our business seems to be saying the giant that is filling that area with containers full of lithium, the mineral that will forever make Sardinia a slave to China and beyond, making it perpetually under international pressure. The only way to discover what is happening in that energy cemetery is to rely on a "steel gull", capable of capturing every detail of that Chinese landing on Sardinian soil. The flight is low, until you can read the Chinese writings imprinted in those steel walls that arrived here from the distant Chinese province of Fujian. That geographical reference would be enough to understand the "revolution in reverse" that is taking place in that patch of dust and pollution close to that power plant ready to detach from earthly life, to reach the disused industrial group without firing a shot, regardless of the social impact and economic, environmental and health.
Mao's grandchildren
You understand it immediately, when the aircraft traces a diagonal route over that industrial desert: they will close the last electrical bastion of Sardinia, firing workers and losing crucial professionalism, to rely on the "grandchildren" of Mao Tse-Tung, on their loaded with wind turbines and endless expanses of photovoltaic panels. If China then decides to raise the price, if international conflicts irreparably mark the new economic and financial world, never mind, since only Sardinia remains "attached" to the batteries. Everywhere Enel is converting its power plants, including coal, gas and methane ones. On the Island of the Nuraghi, however, after having closed down industries and eliminated jobs with energy at sky-high prices, as the European Union itself has repeatedly put on paper, they are preparing to plan the era of Chinese batteries . Sulcis is the most evident representation of this new dependence, the wicked consequence of that "murderous decree" of the Draghi Government which in March 2021 decided, without turning back, to transform Sardinia into an Italian energy colony.
Lithium mountain
To intercept the start of the works and their end you have to go through reeds and worn iron bars. The cartel is in favor of nothing, as if the expanse of lithium that Enel has decided to "plant" in the lands left free by state industrialization had to be hidden from anyone. The title impressed by the low-flying flight is exhaustive: «Creation of a Bess electrochemical storage system» for a power of 122 megawatts. Work will start on 27 December 2023, expected to end on 31 December 2024. The operation has a declared cost of 23.8 million euros.
Address: ex Centrale
The address of the work shown on the construction site sign is all too explicit: "Ex Centrale di Portoscuso". The authorization title is an entire program: "single provision n.215 of 4 April 2022". No Environmental Impact Assessment procedure, given that the regulations leave free will to the companies that want to build this type of power plant. On record there is only an agreement with the Sardinian Region which on the one hand pretended to rant against the Draghi decree and then, instead, on 27 January 2023 gave its consent to the Chinese lithium plan for the Sulcis plant. Not a kilo of lithium, but a mountain: as many as 140 cabin cruisers are expected in that square, just 36 have arrived, with a potential of 36 thousand kg each as stated in the maximum capacity of the containers. Excluding the weight of the container and the technical volumes, one could venture that no less than two million kilos of lithium could arrive in that yard.
Silence, there is China in the house
All in absolute silence, both for the new energy "noose" that is tightening around Sardinia, but also for the new Chinese dependence on Sardinian land. The only energy "accumulator" of wind and sun, which would have made the island totally independent, hydrogen, has been ignored and boycotted precisely to favor lobbying and business of large multinationals. The story of Chinese lithium, the one that is landing on Sardinian soil, however, is already an international case, with spy stories , high-level investigations world and infinite secrets.
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