James Warren
AN online petition has been launched to help save an area of outstanding natural beauty near Granada in Spain’s Andalucia.
This time however it is not a hotel or a golf course, but 110 kilometres of high voltage power lines, wind turbines and a large solar energy plant.
The petition, launched on Change.org was set up by Maria Lena Montserrat Saul, a resident of Cuevas del Campo and an environmental activist.
Saul is pushing to put a halt to the project which will see 110 kilometres of 400KV power lines being placed between the town of Baza and the rural hamlet of Caparacena.
Red Electrica Espanola (REE) is responsible for the plans that promise to bring massive employment to the area.
A substation will also be constructed in Baza along with 3,000 wind turbines scattered across the entire Altiplano de Granada area.
There are also plans to create a 4,500 hectare site to house a solar energy plant.
In the regional and national governments’ push to steer Spain towards a greener future, Saul argues that this comes at the expense of areas of natural beauty.
Currently the area, which includes the towns of Guadix, Baza and Huescar, is home to lagoons, archaeological sites, monolithic cave houses and is home to many species of protected wildlife.
The National Park of Cazorla is a breeding ground for large birds such as the Bald Eagle, Bonelli Eagle and Griffon vultures and flamingos regularly visit the Baico and Cullar lagoons.
According to Saul, the work has begun already without the relevant Environmental Evaluation Study.
“The local populations are being misled, the energy company falsely promising 15,000 jobs for local people. The wind turbine parks and solar fields provide NO employment,” claimed Saul.
“There will be zero benefit to the region.”
The opposition to the plan will eventually be handed over to the Minister of Ecological Transition, The Environmental Council of the Junta de Andalucía and the Provincial Diputacion of Granada.
The petition was launched two days ago and has currently gained 184 signatures.
The project is buoyed by the Spanish government’s push to bring Spain towards becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
Already, the country has all but phased out coal production after half of its plants closed last month, with the other half on the verge of closure.
