The Region is rejoicing: "Sos Enattos is safe." But it's not just the Einstein Telescope that benefits from the Council of State's decision to block the "Gomoretta" wind farm project, proposed by Parco Eolico Maestrale, a subsidiary of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy Italy SpA. The project would have installed a 45,045 MW plant in the municipalities of Bitti, Orune, and Buddusò. Thirteen gigantic wind turbines were planned: the support towers would have been 84 meters high and the rotors would have had a diameter of 132 meters, for a total height of 150 meters. It's precisely those municipalities that are now celebrating because the planned mega-blades will not be erected.
The decision
At least that's what the Council of State's ruling, published yesterday, establishes. It also finds the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) granted for the plant completely inconsistent from a regulatory standpoint: the new state regulations impose a total blockade within ten kilometers of locations such as those where Siemens planned to build the wind farm, also because they would disrupt the Einstein Telescope's studies. The Fourth Chamber, before which the Region was represented by lawyers Mattia Pani, Andrea Secchi, and Giovanni Parisi, unwaveringly emphasized the incompatibility of the Siemens wind farm with the research infrastructure and the related interference. In essence, not only does scientific interest prevail, but there is no violation of current regulations.
Legitimacy
Among the reasons cited in the appeal to favor Siemens' project, which, at this point, only lacked a single authorization to proceed with the construction of the megastructure, the question of constitutionality also appears to be unfounded. Moreover, according to the Fourth Section, presided over by Luigi Carbone, the appellant merely cited the contested provisions "without, however, specifying the constitutional parameters that were allegedly violated." Furthermore, "there is no violation of the principle of maximum diffusion of renewable energy since the legislation in question does not introduce an absolute and a priori ban on the construction of the wind farm in question, but merely requires a renewal of the procedure with the participation of other administrations."
The interferences
With specific reference to the existence of another requirement established by law, relating to the "environmental preservation of the areas themselves and the surrounding territories" for the purposes of the construction or proper functioning of research infrastructures, the Council of State recalls that "the potential interference profiles of the wind farm with the Einstein Telescope arise, as is known, precisely in relation to the potential disturbances that the rotors emit into the environment, potentially compromising the detection of gravitational waves. These are clearly environmental impact profiles that must be assessed precisely in the proceedings that led to the adoption of the provision challenged here."
The sentence
Hence the verdict on behalf of the Italian people , which leaves a bitter taste in Siemens' mouth, but brings a sigh of relief in the areas of Bitti, Orune, and Buddusò: the giant wind turbines will not be built.
Lorenzo Piras
