argia.eus
INPRIMATU
Rejected the project of a wind power plant of the Commissions to protect the smog
  • The Government of the Ecological Transition of Spain has not authorised the planned wind power plant project between Muskiz, Abanto and Ciérvana and Castro Urdiales for causing serious environmental damage. BirdLife, the Spanish Society of Ornithology, had already requested that no wind turbines be installed in this area, because it is essential for the smoothening.
Urko Apaolaza Avila @urkoapaolaza 2023ko otsailaren 15a
Sai zuria gure zeruetan dabilen hegazti handienetako bat da, bioaniztasunarentzat funtzio garrantzitsua betetzen du eta mehatxaturik dago (argazkia: BirdLife / Bruno Berthemy)

From Guriezo, through Castro Urdiales, the company Green Capital Power intended to build a 22-kilometer energy facility to Abanto-Zierbena in an important coastal mountain range of the Commissions of Bizkaia and Cantabria, called Maya. However, the Government of the Ecological Transition of Spain has rejected the request for damage affecting native fauna.

The Ministry has refused the environmental authorisation published on 30 January in the Official Gazette of Spain. Specifically, it points to the presence of nests and colonies of threatened birds such as the alimoche, the leonado vulture and the peregrine falcon. In the case of the alimoche, classified as "vulnerable", 20% of the migratory birds that arrive annually in Cantabria have their nest in the place where the wind power plant was intended to be built.

Green Capital Power wanted to receive 15 giant windmills of 90 meters high, with a power of 51.9 megawatts, for which it had to spend 52.7 million euros. The plant also provided for a 22 kilometer evacuation line through the massif.

The Provincial Council of Bizkaia also did not grant an integrated environmental authorisation to the project, as in addition to the white smog, it would cause serious damage to bats and other birds and animals living in nearby caves.

The Spanish Society of Ornithology, BirdLife, already in 2021, had already requested that this plant not be made because "it would be unsustainable for birds that are protected".