Endesa will start building a wind farm in La Jonquera in 2024 after the Department of Climate Action communicated yesterday its approval of the environmental impact statement for its Galatea project. There will be nine wind turbines built on the Albera mountain range, in unprotected spaces, with a total power of 49 megawatts (Mw). But these towers of up to 200 meters in height above all represent the end of the taboo that had meant that the great electricity demand of the Empordà tourist industry and the province of Girona as a whole advanced without any large generation installation in the area, barely a few of cogeneration linked to industries. And that is so because there has been a historical opposition from local entities and even city councils to this type of proposal.
The presentation of renewable energies of the Generalitat, created as a result of the law on the matter approved by the Government in 2019, has been the battering ram that has broken that Girona wall. Its technicians accept the measures taken by the electricity company, which will build and operate the park through its subsidiary Enel Green Power Spain, as good, and they give a conditioned yes that the company has already indicated that it accepts. One of these clauses tries to compensate for the felling of holm oaks necessary to locate the windmills with three times that affectation and the other requires sharing the electricity evacuation line that Endesa itself will have to build to make sense of its wind turbines. That line, and the obligation that it be shared, suggests that the Generalitat wants there to be other parks in the area.
According to the Iaeden-Salvem l’Empordà platform, one of the entities that has expressed its rejection of the Endesa project, there are two other wind farms in the pipeline in the area: one of 20 MW in the municipality of Capmany and another 30MW in the municipality of throat.
A company spokeswoman took the operation for granted, which will involve a disbursement of 50 million euros. In order to comply with the law approved in 2019, Endesa itself has opened a procedure for local administrations, entities or companies to join the financing of the park through remunerated loans starting at 4% with contributions ranging from 500 to 25,000 euros.
The Galatea project will be the first approximation of renewable energies to the Costa Brava and some players in the energy sector hope that it will not be the only one in the coming weeks. Following some statements by the Third Vice President and Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, there is speculation that the Council of Ministers will soon approve the Plan for the Management of the Mediterranean Maritime Area (POEM). This is a document that should allow the construction of offshore wind farms and Catalonia, and the Empordà in particular, will be valid locations for this type of initiative in this area, considered an area of high potential for offshore wind power. As soon as it is approved, the projects that have already come to light will begin to be more solid, which will have to be obtained an administrative authorization in the renewable auctions that the Government subsequently puts out to tender.
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At the moment there are three developers who have shown their interest in establishing themselves off the coast of Roses and Jaume Morron, manager of the employers’ association EolicCat is convinced that by 2030 the planned mills will be running, basically due to the State’s interest in decarbonising the Spanish economy. and in this objective, marine facilities must play an important role.
The Tramuntana project, promoted by the companies Blue Float Energy and Sener, foresaw in its initial approach, finally lowered to win the favor of local authorities, a park with a capacity of 1,000 MW, which would mean approximately 90% of the Demand from the entire province of Girona.
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