To introduce queues, with the living room hanging, and up to the municipal authorities and the people of the company, long distances of two and a half hours of explanations and questions and answers, have you talked to the neighbors? What will happen next with this material? Who has decided the project? Why is no other alternative being promoted?... Applause on the one hand and on the other, shouts and outcry. It is not usual that information about a large infrastructure is offered in this way, and the curiosity and concern about the wind farm that Statkraft wants to carry out in Azpeitia, Zestoa and Errezil is also reflected in the afternoon of Tuesday at the Soreasu Theatre in Azpeitia.

Azpeitia Mayor Nagore Alkorta explained that they wanted to hold this open meeting with the public, but before the news “jumped” to the media. In this regard, he asked “with what kind” on 13 September, since the Presidency of the Basque Government, it was decided to take the matter to the media “as a bomb”, without having asked for administrative authorizations: “Transparency is one thing, but that has risks.”

Other model

The Mayor, Nagore Alkorta, and the Councilor for Strategy and Urbanism in Azpeitia, Josu Labaka, spoke at the first meeting. The first has consistently wanted to make it clear that it is still “too early” and that the analysis of the project does not mean that they will be “blind”. They stress that they bet on renewables, but not in any way, and that in this sense Piaspe’s project can be an “opportunity for a new model” and “in the need to explore”. However, Alkorta explained that the company Statkraft has from the outset received a “red line”: “Socialisation of energy”.

Labaka has offered some features of the current energy situation and has highlighted the latest municipal energy and self-consumption measures, “but not enough” because electricity production is well below consumption: “We will continue to need energy and it should be renewable.” In this sense, for Labaka, as it was said “No to nuclear!” it is not correct to say “No to wind!”: “But anyway? No”, it has ended – at that time and on other occasions, some citizens have angered the conclusion of municipal representatives and Statkraft with touches such as “On the Mountain No!”.

On the other hand, the councillor has pointed out that the energy sector is an “oligopolistic world” and that this can be an opportunity to change it.

Regarding the project, the municipal representatives have pointed out that, although the location of the mills is “probisional” and is outside the natural spaces legally protected, their possible affection to heritage, the environment or the landscape will be studied in depth. Alkorta raises a question for reflection: “In the face of a possible opportunity for a project that would allow the democratization of energy, what position would we take?”

Why in Azpeitia?

The representatives of Jon Zayas and Luis Miguel Alvarez Statkraft have taken the floor to provide data and information on the project: That there is wind on Mount Sañoa but that they still have to make measurements, that there are 91% of roads for the mills, that there is a 3.8 km line to the Lasao substation, that the clashes of the birds are not so many, but that they have launched a one year study...

According to Zayas, 205 meters high wind mills are the “most critical case” being studied, but it would also be a “reduction possibility”. The results of a study on self-consumption carried out in Zumaia have also been taken to show that self-consumption is not enough. Therefore, they claim that the wind power plant in Piaspe would cover 50% of the energy consumption of Urola Erdia.

If the project were to go ahead, it would be completed by the end of 2026 or early 2027. Statkraft’s representatives express their desire for “transparency”: “That’s why we are here,” Zayas said over and over again.

"How many mountain ranges will we need?"

Concerns, contradictions and doubts have emerged during Question and Answer Times. For example, a citizen questions the alternative of wind turbines: “The other day I heard on the radio that with the projects of Aramaio and Azpeitia would cover 20% of Fagor’s consumption. So would Fagor need 10 mountain ranges? If it really is an alternative, how many mountain ranges are we expected to sacrifice?” In this sense, the same citizen lacks a new organisation and analysis "as a people", instead of "patches".

The mayor agrees with the citizen on the last point: “An energy strategy is lacking in the Autonomous Community”. It recalls that the current Sectoral Plan is 2002, and that in 2009 the Basque Parliament demanded a “general framework” for renewable energy, which is what is now being dealt with in Parliament. “It is clear that here we have a reality, and we have to negotiate with that reality, we can say simple slogans, but from the institutions we have to give an answer.”

Concern about the impact of windmills

Other neighbours ask about the impact wind mills will have, for example what will happen to this material. The representatives of Statkraft, who have put other members of the company on the table, have explained that the biggest problem is with the blades of the mills, which are made of chemical material, but that there are already companies that are doing them also for their reuse. It is reported that the mills have a survival of 30 to 35 years.

The citizens also wanted to know the interests of the multinational after the project: “It seems that you have come to save us, I don’t believe that. The model is the same, you are a company that comes from outside, that sees that here is a place to get the business out, and period,” said one, for example. And another has also accused the mayor of acting as a partisan: “Where does this project come from?” Alkorta made it clear that Stakraft was the first company to approach the city council: “The projects we develop can have a different origin and if a company brings us a project, just because we have an idea that has not emerged from us, we do not refuse to analyze it.”

“Is the amount of energy we get from wind farms worth leaving the mountains in awe?” “Are we doing little things with Ekindar, why don’t we follow that path?” In five years many things can be done”; “What panorama will remain in the places where metals are to be taken out to make windmills?”... these are other questions and doubts raised on Tuesday afternoon.

What about land and the food crisis?

Other people are concerned about land and food: “We live people on the mountain, we still have many more votes in the cities, but those of us on the mountain cook and take care of the mountain,” says a farmer.

The daughter of baserritars who manage the land in the area where the Piaspe project is to be carried out has also spoken: “I have a project, which I have taken from my parents, the intention to take over, and this gives me a very strong cry. In Euskal Herria, we are producing only 10% of the food we consume. We are talking about a tremendous energy crisis, but here too there is a food crisis: there is no baserritars, no one wants to follow, no one can, it is very difficult. And we do a lot of work to have good food for you. I don’t understand either politics or renewables, but I’d like to know how much energy you have to spend to put all these [windmills].”

Five years of career

Throughout the Assembly, both Mayor Nagore Alkorta and Councilor Josu Labaka outline possible steps forward, noting that, for example, a round of meetings with the actors is planned. Alkorta explains that the process would still have a five-year journey and that, after the deadline for public information, land would still have to be reserved and an environmental impact assessment carried out.

In the end, the mayor thanks the citizen participation and reiterates that the project is nothing more than an “opportunity”: “Are we willing to analyze this opportunity?”