Wind Power News: Spain
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational mission to provide information about industrial wind energy development to readers seeking such information. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the credited organizations or individuals and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law. The original articles, links to which are provided, may have additional links and photos and other media that were not included here.
Wind + pumped hydro on El Hierro a failed experiment
The island of El Hierro, situated in Spain’s Canary Islands off the northwestern coast of Africa, has unwittingly become the pilot project for renewable power. But this pilot project hasn’t come close to achieving its aims. Any other communities looking to shift their energy grid to wind power should critically study what happened in El Hierro and take it as a failed experiment that should never be repeated. El Hierro, the smallest of the Canary Islands, is only 12 miles . . . Complete story »
Greenpeace alerta sobre el impacto ambiental de dos grandes proyectos en Aragón
[Greenpeace denounces the threat to high-value natural spaces, including by the “Maestrazgo Cluster” of 125 wind turbines.] Con motivo del Día Mundial de la Protección de la Naturaleza, Greenpeace ha publicado el informe ‘Los otros Altri‘, que denuncia cómo proyectos corporativos, con la “complicidad de las administraciones”, amenazan espacios naturales de alto valor ecológico en España. En el documento se detallen 12 casos, entre los que figuran dos en Aragón: el clúster eólico del Maestrazgo (Teruel) y el proyecto de . . . Complete story »
La década prodigiosa de las renovables: 75 M en mordidas, 100 parques eólicos y 15 imputados: juicio al gran caso de corrupción de Castilla y León
[A prodigious decade for renewables: 75 million bribes, 100 wind farms, and 15 defendants: trial begins in major corruption case in Castile and León] Más de 2.200 parques eólicos fueron solicitados entre 2005 y 2015 en Castilla y León, la década prodigiosa de las energías renovables, propulsados por más que jugosos beneficios fiscales con los que el Gobierno quería impulsar estas alternativas energéticas. En ese hervidero de proyectos, en Castilla y León se gestó una gigantesca operación de corrupción capitaneada, . . . Complete story »
Los ecologistas paralizan la construcción del mayor parque eólico en España
[Environmentalists paralyze the construction of the largest wind farm in Spain] El proyecto Clúster del Maestrazgo, el que será el mayor parque eólico de España, con una potencia de 744 MW, propiedad del fondo danés Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), se encuentra paralizado a causa de los ecologistas. El proyecto, que ya cuenta con la Autorización Administrativa de Construcción aprobada por el Consejo de Ministros el pasado 23 de julio de 2024, se encuentra pendiente únicamente de los últimos permisos y de . . . Complete story »
El “negocio” de las renovables visto desde la España rural: “Es colonialismo energético, somos el tercer mundo para la UE”
[The “business” of renewables as seen from rural Spain: “It is energy colonialism, we are the third world for the EU”] Subir al llano le recuerda a Juanma por qué decidió quedarse en el campo y cultivar la tierra. Desde lo alto se ve un paraje verde, un valle bañado por el Arroyo de San Andrés, donde todavía quedan huertos y árboles frutales. Los chopos y los nogales podrían sustituirse por algo más grande, le dijeron al agricultor. Uno de . . . Complete story »
El Supremo acepta la primera demanda de los ambientalistas contra el Clúster Maestrazgo
[Supreme Court accepts the first lawsuit by environmentalists against the Maestrazgo Cluster] El Tribunal Supremo ha aceptado después de más de un año el primer recurso contencioso-administrativo contra el Clúster Maestrazgo, el macroproyecto eólico que el fondo danés CIP pretende construir en la comarca homónima, en la frontera entre Teruel y Castellón y que supone la instalación de 122 aerogeneradores de última generación. La demanda, presentada en bloque por la Plataforma a Favor de los Paisajes de Teruel, la Fundación . . . Complete story »
How Spain’s success in renewable energy may have left it vulnerable
The Iberian Peninsula’s widespread blackout raises questions about the resilience of the electric power infrastructure in the two countries – and to an extent, the rest of Europe. Spain’s power company, Red Eléctrica, proudly declared on April 16 that enough renewable energy had been generated to cover demand. “The ecological transition is moving forward,” it said. Less than two weeks later, Spain and Portugal experienced an 18-hour blackout that disrupted daily life, shutting down businesses and schools and crippling trains and . . . Complete story »
Renewable energy in the dock in Spain after blackout
Fierce debate raged in Spain on Wednesday over the role its reliance on renewable energy may have had in this week’s blackout which disrupted millions of lives, though officials sought to downplay any potential link. “The lack of nuclear power stations and the ‘boom’ in renewables have brought the electricity grid to its knees,” conservative newspaper ABC headlined on its front page. Rival daily El Mundo wrote that “warnings about renewables over the last five years” had been “ignored”. Conservative . . . Complete story »
Researchers warn of the overlap between offshore wind farms and areas of high biodiversity
A predictive model suggests that seabirds and marine mammals forage in the same areas where wind potential is most significant and that their populations may be at risk if wind farms are built there. This is one of the key findings of a study published in the Journal of Environmental Management, the result of a collaboration among researchers from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), the University of Murcia, the Complutense University of Madrid, and the University of Alicante. . . . Complete story »
Innovation vs tradition: Galicia faces difficult wind-farm decisions
Do wind farms represent a renewable revolution or archeological annihilation? That’s the argument playing out in several parts of the world – and Galicia, in Spain’s windy northwest corner, is a prime example. As turbines multiply in an area buffeted by the eternal Atlantic winds, protest groups have tried different tactics to prevent their construction. One method came via the discovery of a tiny 3,000-year-old Celtic cross – during a group’s farewell walk on a site earmarked for a wind . . . Complete story »
