Innovation vs tradition: Galicia faces difficult wind-farm decisions

Do wind farms represent a renewable revolution or archeological annihilation? That's the argument playing out in several parts of the world – and Galicia, in Spain's windy northwest corner, is a prime example. 

As turbines multiply in an area buffeted by the eternal Atlantic winds, protest groups have tried different tactics to prevent their construction. One method came via the discovery of a tiny 3,000-year-old Celtic cross – during a group's farewell walk on a site earmarked for a wind farm.

Mount Acibal above the village of Amil had already been almost completely cleared of the rocks and stones blocking the access roads and wind installation sites when the Amil Without Wind Power Plants association found the cross.

This group of locals concerned for their heritage found it on a 'Goodbye Hike' as they said adios to the hills they regularly climb - past the skittish wild horses to enjoy the fresh air, green-carpeted hilltops and oil-painting views of Pontevedra Bay.

They had already watched from a distance as construction companies used dynamite to blow up rocks that blocked passage to the proposed turbine bases. But those rocks hold ancient secrets, they say. 

The Celtic cross, clearly visible on the rock, is one of 50 stone carvings, spirals, swirls, and other markings that go back to Celtic, Roman, and even earlier enigmatic eras in the past.

"We are standing on ancient grounds," Patricia Gamallo of 'Amil Without Wind Power Plants' tells CGTN.

"A place of many legends with a wealth of archeological artefacts that we have to protect, which they're simply happy to dynamite."

77 wind projects stopped in Galicia

Mainly formed of retirees, hikers, environmentalists, ecologists and concerned locals, the group managed to get the turbine installations stopped by asking archeologists to certify the Celtic cross and other heritage finds.

The Spanish constitution states that you cannot build over heritage sites and construction is now stopped as the case works its way through the regional courts.

A landslide of lawsuits has paralyzed 77 projects across Galicia to date – including some, like on Mount Acibal, mid-construction. These already have planning permission and have gone through the necessary environmental survey and impact process, and the paralysis is costing the industry millions.

A two-and-a-half hour drive inland, another half-built wind farm was stopped by the Save The Oribio Mountain conservationist platform when a Spanish Supreme Court ruled it to be in a Nature Network protected zone.

Galicia is Spain's windiest region and the clean energy industry is clamouring to capitalize and bring Spain closer to its 2030 green goals. 

But this is another type of green - a verdant, lesser-known area of Spain, with its captivating coastline and ancient history – and not everyone is happy with the spinning giants popping up on its picturesque landscapes.

"Turbine invasion," "energy colonization" and "sacrifice zone," are just some of the phrases used by protestors in Galicia against the installation of wind farms.

It's progress versus preservation – and local communities are organizing.

The ecological threat of green energy

"We're not against wind energy, we're against the model of implementation of wind energy in our territory," Belen Rodriguez Fernandez of the Ecology Defense Association Galicia tells CGTN.

"For example, we stopped two wind farms in a zone where we found a unique flower that only grows there - the only place in the world. We would have lost it forever."

Other fears are for winged animals like bats and birds. Crowdfunded and privately funded legal challenges now stop many installations before they even break ground, as local groups band together to resist them.

The cases argue that the Galician regional government did not give sufficient weight to environmental risks or ensure sufficient public participation in the process.

The pro-wind argument is simple: Wind brings clean power and power brings industry and jobs. A 2023 Deloitte report estimates the region risks losing $6.5 billion of investment and 7,000 direct jobs.

Energy companies say that the rules that allow them to begin building in one Spanish region are now different to those in others, and Galicia is losing ground to Castile and Leon, Aragon, and Castile La Mancha - all of which have more capacity installed. Galicia is 'killing the goose that lays the golden eggs,' industry voices say.

"In Galicia, more than 75 percent of people are in favor of further development of wind energy," Juan Virgilio Marquez, CEO of the Wind Energy Association (AEE), asserts at their offices in Madrid. "In Spain there are more than 1,300 wind parks in more than 868 municipalities, and not one of them is unhappy with their wind power plant."

Marquez denies that the wind industry has made mistakes and defends the planning process and environmental impact surveys that can take two to three years. He points to 80 out of 100 projects in Galicia being denied final construction permission as evidence that the system works.

"Spain has to move forward with renewable energy generation and wind is a fundamental piece of the puzzle," he says.

What are the main advantages of wind power?

Wind power is a clean energy source that doesn't cause CO2 emissions the way that extracting and burning fossil fuels does. But Spain isn't the only country struggling to get wind projects completed, and the issue has become political too.

Germany's far-right AFD party put anti-renewables rhetoric at the center of recent regional election campaigns with great success, and in Italy a new law in Sardinia has made wind turbines off-limits for 90 percent of the island.

Marquez says disinformation is part of the problem: "There is so much fake news, so much prejudice against wind and social manipulation through various media.

"Here in Spain we've seen it happening and growing over time, trying to use the energy issue for political gain, and we are totally against politics in the energy industry. Energy is a shared common good, just as food and security are.

"Using renewable energy, or any other kind of energy, for political gain is a mistake - wind power is a catalyst for competitiveness, progress, energy security and industrial resilience."

EU countries are rushing to install renewables to meet 2030 goals, but the word from places like Amil and Oribio is that projects like these in Galicia need to engage and communicate better with local communities to get them back onside.