The number is not accurate, it can be ten or so, it is a calculation with the existing projects and forecasts, but it is a sign of the trend that the production of renewable energies will bring to Navarra. A new boom in renewable energy in Navarra. The situation, the impacts and the alternative proposals are the title of the report they have presented, which is in Spanish, and explains the current energy situation in Navarre; where that energy comes from and the prospects for the future. “The new projects will increase the impacts generated by the existing ones and are presented as responses to the excessive energy consumption we do.” Pablo Llorente and Martín Zelaia presented the report at the Katakrak bookstore.

According to the report, seventeen new wind farms are in the exposition phase, another six are in the process of being studied by the Government of Navarra and 17 projects were expected to be submitted “by the end of the year [2020]”. In total, there are 40 wind farms. The data are not accurate and Subai Erakuntza underlined that more transparency would be needed if we were to be better at what is before us. According to the association, the current parks have a total power of 1,333 megawatts (MW) and the existing parks have a total power of 1,308 MW. In other words, the intention is to double approximately the wind energy currently generated.

As for solar parks, this is about 27 projects: six are in the exposure phase, six have been submitted and another fifteen were expected to be submitted by the end of 2020. The wind farms that currently exist in Navarre have a power of 142 MW, and the Foral Government wants to reach 1,439 MW with the new parks, which is equivalent to ten times more.

The Sustraikide have explained that this new explosion of renewable energies is entirely linked to the reduction of fossil energies that must be done in the near future: “The Government of Spain wants 97% of electricity produced by 2050 to be renewable, which will mean a great development of the giant renewable polygons.” The representatives of the association have said that there is currently strong pressure on ecosystems and have denounced that this project will increase.

Changing the economic model

80% of the energy currently consumed in Navarre comes from fossil energies, so this new rain of parks is focused on increasing renewable consumption by 20%. However, Zelaia and Llorente have explained that the solution is not only to generate more renewable energy. On the one hand, renewables will not only be able to respond to the ever-growing demand for energy, but, on the other hand, “to increase the use of renewables, major changes will have to be made in industrial processes, in transport and in other economic sectors, in order to be able to operate with electricity.”

Therefore, they consider it essential to change this capitalist model and move towards a socio-economic model that is not based on continuous growth. For this reason, nowadays, “degrowth is essential”. Llorente explained that all these parks are intended to feed the high voltage network and that the opposite must be done, decentralizing the processes of energy generation, “in that the councils and the role of the municipalities is fundamental”.

Currently, the production of renewable energy in Navarre meets its electricity consumption (20% of the total), and more: In 2018, for example, 30% of the total produced in Navarre was exported, so “only this development of renewable projects will serve to increase exports”.

“Yes, the installation of renewable energies means reducing the consumption of fossil fuels – as the report says – but also increasing the consumption of other minerals and many raw materials.” With a view to changing the model, the report proposes ten proposals, from the necessary change in the financial model to waste management, promoting advertising in services and in basic needs. They also call for the maximum amount of energy each person can consume to be determined.

Groups opposed to these projects, such as the association against wind farms Haize Berriak, have been set up in some parts of the areas where these parks are intended to be installed. The Economic Development Advisor of the Government of Navarra, Manu Aierdi, admitted in a recently published article that these projects bring with them damages, but considered these damages as an essential price of the reduction of fossil energy, otherwise it would be worse because “it is a priority to lower the temperature of the planet”. Subai Erakuntza responded that “renewables alone will not reduce the temperature.”