Nueva Canarias Arrecife expresses its "total disagreement with the intention of Pedro Sánchez's executive to install marine wind turbines on the coast of the municipality". Last week it was made public that the Spatial Planning Plan of the Maritime Area (POEM) in the Canary Islands area defines areas of high potential for marine wind energy in Lanzarote from Jameos del Agua to Arrecife.
"The State has included in this way, all this area of the Lanzarote coast in the public auction of marine wind energy, which will begin in the coming months. This means that at any time any company may have the legal right to install off-shore wind turbines that measure 300 meters in height -the Gran Hotel measures 53 meters- 1.8 km from the coast in front of Las Caletas, in the Puerto area, according to statements by the Energy Councilor of the Cabildo de Lanzarote", they point out from NC.
From the party they point out that "at this moment there is a company, Capital Energy, processing a project to supply clean energy to the electrical substation of the thermal power plant and that it plans to place those wind turbines with foundations at the seabed, in front of the city of Arrecife and the tourist area of Costa Teguise, from Punta Jablillo, Playa Bastián to Playa del Ancla, and in front of many hotels. It is useless to continue promoting cruise tourism in the capital of Lanzarote if on the other hand we dedicate ourselves to receiving them with these moles in our bay that generate so much visual impact", they criticize from the party.
"From Nueva Canarias we want to open a space for dialogue and study to assess whether these monstrosities of more than 300 meters in height should be part of one of the most spectacular marinas in Spain", says the NC councilor, Armando Santana. "We must study how it will affect the tourist reputation of this island and the quality of the citizens of Lanzarote, these devices so far from the island model "Biosphere Reserve" that we have and of which we are so proud, based on the integration of man in nature and the integration of architecture in the landscape", he adds. Therefore, the members of NC request "an understanding on the part of all the municipalities, Cabildo de Lanzarote and Government of the Canary Islands to make a common front and assess the possibility of presenting an appeal against this aberration that threatens the landscape of Lanzarote".
"We must free Lanzarote from all marine wind energy, take our island out of the State's public auction of marine wind energy by acting quickly", says Santana. "Our commitment to renewable energies is unquestionable, but we must do it with dialogue and in an orderly manner and most importantly, that the decisions are made here. You cannot decarbonize at any price, we have to advance in the implementation of renewable energies in a harmonious way with our environment and our island model, as we have been doing until now", says Santana.
The reasons why Nueva Canarias is against the installation of wind turbines are related to the "technical aspects; the high cost and the fact of not being amortizable; the environmental impact and occupation of the territory; and the zero benefit for the citizens". From the party they point out that if the project goes ahead, "the citizen will have lost his territory, his money and will never know, nor will he be able to verify, what is the benefit that the implementation of that wind system brings him, because he will continue to be at the mercy of market prices".
"The worst possible situation"
From Nueva Canarias they believe that "whenever the Government and the media talk about renewables, they present the figure of wind turbines as the great solution, when that is not true. It is the worst possible solution since it is the most expensive, the one with the worst performance, the one that generates the most ecological impact and consumption of raw materials and the most expensive to maintain and operate".
"The current photovoltaic solar technology is booming, the prices of equipment and materials have experienced a decrease in cost and there are new hybrid systems with accumulation that can provide the necessary electrical energy for homes and businesses. The current photovoltaic self-consumption systems produce energy that is consumed directly at kilometer zero, that is, no networks, transformer stations, distribution companies, network managers, or large works are needed", they point out from NC. The environmental impact is "minimal and the benefit for the citizen is almost 100%, because you consume the energy you produce", they add.
"Of course this means the end of energy tyranny, the end of the electricity companies and the entire established system, that is why self-consumption is not promoted with all the intensity that it should be", concludes the NC councilor, Armando Santana.
