The Minister of Ecological Transition and Energy, Mariano Hernández Zapata, warned this Friday that the dismantling of the Montaña Mina wind farm in San Bartolomé, Lanzarote, which has been inoperative since 2017, and the replacement of the land that houses it "will take time."
And so it will be due to the complexity of the procedure and because it is the first of its kind to be done in the Canary Islands, Zapata explained in a parliamentary committee to questions from the Vox deputy Nicasio Galván about the total cost, which the minister has not clarified, as it is "variable" and will depend on "different modifications of the process."
He recalled that last January the resolution was signed for the official start of the procedure for dismantling this wind farm and restoring the space, once its activity has ended and in view of the inadequate maintenance of the facilities, which means "a danger" to people, flora, fauna, property and the environment.
The General Directorate of Energy is in charge of the contracting process of the operation and has requested several budgets, and at this time they are drafting the specifications for contracting the works, Zapata detailed.
These include a health and safety project, the dismantling of medium voltage lines and the transport and management of waste, which will be divided between hazardous (such as electronic or oils and derivatives) and non-hazardous. In both cases, they will be transferred and treated by authorized companies.
He has also reported on the actions of the Government of the Canary Islands to guarantee safety in the facilities until they are dismantled and to avoid "runaway" of wind turbines due to strong gusts of wind. Last January one of the mills that had fallen to the ground was removed.
Nicasio Galván (Vox) has expressed his concern about the recycling of all this material, not only from the Montaña Mina park but from others that he foresees in the coming years, and has asked the minister if there is a recycling park in the Canary Islands and if there is specific training on the islands to treat this material.
He spoke of "blade cemeteries" that could be generated in the Canary Islands, which would be "very harmful" to the environment, and referred to agreements between European and African countries to take all that waste there.
Beyond this specific park, the deputy of the Gomera Socialist Group (ASG) Jesús Ramos asked the minister about the control of the maintenance of this type of installation in the Canary Islands, given the finding that wind generation is a technology that "advances very quickly" and that the capacity of mills installed 15 years ago is not the same as now.
Zapata replied that the useful life of these devices is more than 25 years, and explained that all this is regulated through decree 6/2015, which establishes the obligations of the owners of wind farms to which they are subject during the exploitation period.
As well as the consequences to which they are exposed in case of non-compliance, including the revocation of the administrative authorization, temporary or definitive, and the dismantling of the facilities.
The minister has reported that the General Directorate of Energy is working on the drafting of an inspection plan for these facilities that will establish the conditions for their proper monitoring, to avoid precisely situations such as that of Montaña Mina.
