The Cabildo of Lanzarote has stated that the current situation of the network of wind farms in Lanzarote is in a "total state of abandonment", as reported during the press conference this Thursday, which was attended by the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, accompanied by the Minister of Wind Energy, Domingo Cejas.
“At the beginning of this new political term, and once we knew the diagnosis in this matter, we were eager to draft the technical specifications that will allow us to unblock contracts such as the San Bartolomé park project as soon as possible and reach an agreement to comply with the criteria imposed by the Ministry of Biodiversity of the Government of the Canary Islands, respecting the nesting periods and everything that can be corrected to put it into operation in record time,” added Minister Domingo Cejas.
The current government group has accused the previous one of "inaction, lack of management and will" and points out that "it was allowed to go without calculating the negative impact of a continued procrastination with a socialist stamp.”
The president began his speech by showing figures of what he considers "the decline in production levels" and the state of the wind farms of Arrecife, Teguise I, Los Valles, Punta Grande and the Electrical Substation of the Water Consortium of Lanzarote.
“The data speaks for itself,” said Betancort, who pointed out the "drop in production" since 2019, going from "22,735 to 9,482 MWh" in the case of the Los Valles park, and warning about the "drastic reduction in income" generated by Lanzarote's main source of clean energy.
“The ideal potential that we could reach is 85 thousand megawatt hours per year between the four wind farms, however, only 55 thousand are generated, and that has been motivated by not complying with the guidelines of the institution marked by the technicians: guarantee the supply, installation and maintenance for five years,” lamented Betancort, denouncing that, "except for the Arrecife park, the rest have no maintenance contract since April 2020, in the case of the Consortium substation; since January 2022, in the case of Punta Grande; since September 2022 (Los Valles), or since June 23 (Teguise I).”
“The causes of the decrease in production and activity have also meant economic losses for the island, which are calculated to be almost two million euros, which could well have been invested in new infrastructures that make us a truly sustainable island and not just in words,” criticized the current president of the Cabildo, who cited as an example "the lack of installation of electric chargers.”
“In short, the infrastructures are in a total state of abandonment, and this disaster must be analyzed as a whole, because it affects the entire population and its future,” he added. “Lanzarote has lost money and can lose more, it has not produced the wind energy that it potentially could and the inaction has caused not only more pollution but a more than questionable situation in public management.”
Objectives of the current Government Group
After explaining the situation of the island's wind farms by the president, the Minister of the Area, Domingo Cejas, pointed out that “the most immediate objective is to launch the contracting specifications that allow all the wind farms to have optimal maintenance services to be able to bring production to 100%, in addition to reducing atmospheric pollution.”
Domingo Cejas recalled that “the accounts of Consorcio and Inalsa total 40 million in their assets, which will make possible an immediate investment to unblock an adverse situation in environmental matters.”
Oswaldo Betancort concluded the press conference assuring that “from now on he will consolidate an island model without fear of losing or not being up to an award such as the Biosphere Reserve, carrying out responsible and economically profitable and fruitful management for the inhabitants of the island of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, and applying real environmental policies that promote clean energy.”
“We have the resources, the will and the team,” he concluded.