How a storm of lawsuits paralysed wind mills in northwest Spain

Pietro Lombardi - Reuters - 14/01
Jose Maria Cofreces is the owner of a guesthouse in northwestern Galicia, one of Spain's most picturesque regions and a major tourist draw.
  • Opponents of wind farms have filed hundreds of lawsuits
  • Poll shows majority of residents want wind farms
  • Local government says it is acting to accelerate projects
MADRID, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Jose Maria Cofreces is the owner of a guesthouse in northwestern Galicia, one of Spain's most picturesque regions and a major tourist draw.
It is also one of the windiest parts of the country, and that has made it a magnet for developers of giant wind turbines that can stand higher than 50-storey tower blocks.
Cofreces is among those at the vanguard of opposition in Galicia. Echoing the tactics of rural communities across Europe, the protesters have used the courts to block plans they say encroach on their way of life and the environment.
"Part of what we sell here is the landscape," he said. "Wind farms mean having the mountains drilled, filled with holes and lots of concrete."
The wind farm that would loom over his property would comprise 12 170-metre (558 ft) tall turbines, if the developers' hopes materialise.
It is one of 72 - with an overall capacity of around 2 gigawatts (GW), based on more than 2 billion euros ($2.04 billion) in investments, that were approved by the regional government. They were then halted by the highest regional court, mostly in the last year, after locals and environmental groups filed hundreds of lawsuits.
European governments are under pressure to support the European Union's ambitious green energy targets, including a significant expansion of wind energy capacity.
In Europe, Spain is behind only Germany for wind power generation capacity, but its plans to double the amount by the end of the decade have been slowed by the local opposition, as well as licensing bottlenecks.
"In Galicia, there's a complete paralysis," Juan Virgilio Marquez, general director of Spanish wind group AEE, said.
The region did not install a single megawatt (MW) of new wind capacity in 2022 and 2023 and just 69 MW between 2020 and 2023, the latest available data from AEE show.

ENDANGERING HERITAGE

Apart from pitching protesters against governments, the opposition is also at odds with many residents, research has found.
Three-quarters of Galicians want more wind energy, according to a September poll by Galician market research firm Sondaxe.
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