Dilip Kuner
POLITICIANS and town mayors this morning joined protestors on a demo in Malaga to oppose plans for huge solar farms in the region.
There is a growing groundswell of opinion calling for the controversial projects, which will ‘blight’ swathes of beautiful countryside in Malaga and Cadiz, to be drastically scaled back.
Objections have been raised against the sheer number of large-scale projects planned for rural areas across the region, which many fear will be approved without due concern for environmental impact or damage to the rural tourism sector.
The Olive Press backed a campaign to halt the solar farms until full environmental impact studies could be conducted.
On Wednesday, the Provincial Council of Malaga unanimously agreed a motion to request a moratorium on such projects arguing that they are being presented as individual projects in order to slip under the radar.
Only those projects which exceed more than 50MW need authorisation from the Ministry for Ecological Transition.
“But it is common practice for huge projects to be divided up (into smaller proposals) in order to bypass state controls” insisted the motion approved on Wednesday June 23..
According to Francisco Salado, head of the Malaga Provincial Council, plans for some 75 projects in the province alone have already either been submitted or are already under construction.
Meanwhile the number of photovoltaic parks under consideration across Andalucia as a whole exceed 650 individual projects.
Mayors of towns across the province have joined forces to demand action to stop the proliferation of projects and demand “a reasoned and consensual planning policy that considers the inhabitants, their way of life, the environmental conditions, landscape and value it has on tourism.”
“We need all mayors to join forces so that together the municipalities show a united front against the destruction of our province,” said Franciso Martinez, mayor of Alora which has seen recent protests over solar farm proposals.
Speaking at today’s demo he added: “The towers and panels will destroy tourism and the whole caminito del rey project.
Maria Antonia Enriquez, a councillor in Casabermeja said: “Renewable energy has to take account of people because nature and people are everything,” and Luis Maroto from Malaga council said: “There are other ways to bring in renewable energy without such an impact.”
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