The different governments of Navarre, since its inception, have promoted the implementation of wind energy in our mountains and grasslands. Suffice it to recall that the oldest wind farm in the State is located in the Sierra del Cil, in El Misericordia, and that it has just turned 25.

Since then, we've seen those giants appear in our peaks and grasslands. Along with the mills, the parks, the opening of broad tracks and roads, the disappearance of the sketches, the movements of land, the mortality of birds, the transformation of the landscape and the noise.

After the proliferation of these parks in the south of Navarra, in localities such as Larraga, Valtierra, Tudela or Buñuel, the projects seem to want to extend to the north. Sacyr, for example, provides for the construction of 5 parks in the north of the Region of Pamplona, in the municipalities of Odieta, Juslapeña, Ezcabarte, Olaibar, Anue, Steribar, Egüés Valley, Lizoain and Valle de Erro.

They want to settle in the peaks that distinguish these basins, in mountains as well known as Mendurro, Aldaun, Txapardi, Ortxikasko, Arromendi, Elixato, Ilurdotz, Lakarri or Measkoiz, affecting the protected landscapes of the Lordship of Egulbati and the Council of Elia. The hayedo, robledal, would be severely affected. bladders, pine forests and other mixed forests, as well as various ecosystems with protected species, whether animals or plants.

But it's not the only project. It is followed by others, such as Lesaka or Bera, in the Pyrenean area of Navarre or in the Cantabrian slope, in the Lesaka district filled with Auzoberri villages.

Limits

Already in 2012, the Navarre Energy Plan established that the Foral Community was a surplus in wind power generation. According to data from the current Navarre Energy Plan 2018, around 100 days a year, we have to send outside Navarre the surplus production of renewable electricity.

With this data, and being aware of the environmental effects of these infrastructures, why does the Navarre Energy Plan allow companies to continue to implement large wind infrastructure to the detriment of our environment?

Renewable production is fundamental to tackling climate change and the depletion of natural resources, but its limits must be taken into account and we believe that in Navarre, with current consumption, wind production is the only one that has touched these limits. In the days when we spin the mills, they offer us more electricity than we need today. If wind farms were to double during the windy days, Navarre would continue to cover its electricity demand, but companies would have much more electricity to sell abroad. In days of low wind, our wind coverage would still be deficient. In any case, the environmental impact would be twofold.

Businesses, municipalities and governments

In spite of this situation, the Government of Navarre has drawn up a list of the locations that give the location of the mills a good idea, so that it is the companies that decide their number, their power and where to install them. Municipalities and local governments take advantage of the limited decision-making capacity they have in this area and the scarcity of resources for their funding to allow companies to accept the installation of mills in exchange for money. As far as the Government of Navarra is concerned, the Department of the Environment has prevented the implementation of some parks, but the other departments facilitate or support their implementation. In this way, the balance sheet is positive for companies, of little importance for the wind supply of the community and negative for our environment.

Governments have become mere windows where companies can claim ownership of parts of our natural environment in exchange for part of their profits. A system that sees natural resources as part of the business of companies.

Proposals

Climate change and the depletion of natural resources must be addressed marginally by the procedures that have placed us in this situation. The objective to be achieved must be to replace 100% with an economic model based on the democratic and ecological foundations where society is fed with renewable energy and the financial benefits are a priority.

Because of climate change, we need policies that articulate a progressive bias of fossil fuels. When these policies require an increase in renewable energies, this new contribution should come from renewable energies with less environmental impact. In the Foral Community, the development of wind potential is disproportionate to other renewable sources such as microwind and photoboltaics. The development potential of both is high and has many interesting characteristics; the optimization of existing infrastructures, the impulse of self-consumption, the possible diversity of uses and locations, in already urbanized areas, without generating a natural environment.

The depletion of natural resources forces us, on the one hand, to reduce our disproportionate energy consumption. We are aware that resources are not inexhaustible, we cannot remain in unintelligible consumption. We need to know the ecological footprint of Navarre and adapt to the biophysical possibilities offered by our territory. Transportation is the activity that consumes the most fossil fuel. We must reduce travel requirements and drive public and electric transport. On the other hand, we must articulate the change in the production and consumption model that we have. What we have is linear; take the resources from the environment, use them and throw them away. We need a circular economy that designs production in a way that does not generate waste.

We have no better chance. We must optimise and reduce energy consumption, establish systems and forms of organisation that are provided with renewable energies and commit to the use of the nearest and least harmful renewable energies. The rest is not sustainable.