How do municipal governments perceive wind development?

• by OEGA
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The GWO organized a round table with the participation of the municipal power. The idea was to provide the local Galician perspective on energy transition.
Three council members brought us the vision of their municipalities: Fernando Pérez, mayor of the Vilasantar City Council, member of the PP political party; Mariano Iglesias, mayor of Mesía and member of the PSOE; and Manuel Requeijo, mayor of Muras, member of the BNG.

Intervention by Fernando Pérez

Context
Fernando Pérez has been mayor of the Vilasantar City Council since 2011. Located in the Betanzos region (A Coruña) and half an hour away from the main Galician cities in the North (Lugo, Coruña and Santiago de Compostela), Vilasantar spans an area of approximately 60 km² divided into seven parishes with around 100 population centers and a total of 1,215 residents. It has a gently raised relief averaging an altitude of about 500 meters. At an economic level, livestock and timber activities stand out. Cultivation plans remain to be developed in some of its parishes. Despite having made several attempts to install wind power, this municipality still has no wind turbines.

Energy history
The energy history in Vilasantar begins in 2012, the year in which the company Fenosa Wind S.L intended to install the Corda Cruceiro Wind Farm.
That same year, the City Council created a negotiating commission with representatives of all the corporation’s political parties, affected owners, neighbors and ranchers, among other stakeholders. This negotiating commission catered for the interests of the territory. Its work and coordination led to the formulation of allegations and suggestions submitted to the execution project, the sector project and the environmental impact study.
It began to negotiate the compensation for the occupation of the land with the developer, even to the point of drafting a lease for the owners. It also created a collaboration agreement between the City Council and the company in which the conditions regarding environmental protection, revitalization of rural areas, and provision of infrastructures, economic duties and social progress were collected. Among these matters was the agreement to reduce the costs of the electricity bill to the inhabitants of Vilasantar by 30% per year. Moreover, the agreement included financial aid to support cultural and educational events, the city council’s food bank, and organic farming. Likewise, the company undertook the creation of a compensation for the “tecores” (owners of ordered kinexetic land). The most significant part of the agreement required Company compensation for the cost of insulating homes (windows, etc.) located within a radius of a kilometer from the wind turbines to mitigate noise pollution.

However, in 2014 the promoter gave up the installation of the Corda Cruceiro Wind Farm, as well as four others, due to lack of economic viability. The developer shielded itself with the new regulatory framework defining the remuneration for wind power generation (feed-in-tariffs).
In a second attempt in 2018, the Green Capital Power Company tried to set up the Lavandeira Wind Farm, but it only went as far as the consultation phase in the environmental assessment. The Developer presented a document limited to a “cut and paste” of other documents that lacked rigor and contained serious errors concerning the knowledge of the Vilasantar territory. This promoter, which also gave up the installation of this park along with two others, claimed the existence of social opposition derived from the proximity to the houses and the negative effects on livestock farms.

The perspective on wind energy
At present the company Green Capital Power is newly attempting to install wind power in Vilasantar: the Abrente Wind Farm. It is still in the initial phase of consultations in the environmental impact assessment, “curiously, presented during the state of alarm period” as stated by the mayor.
The mayor of Vilasantar clarifies that its inhabitants and local entities are undoubtedly in favor of renewable energy, and specifically wind energy. Yet this “does not imply accepting projects that take no account of its territorial characteristics.”
Vilasantar has no coastline or steep mountains, so the projects so far presented have sought to establish wind power machinery in fields of meadow, cultivation or those that have recently been reforested and are dedicated to logging. These areas are therefore full daily activity, full of life and the daily passage of inhabitants. In addition, they are only a few meters from the houses. At this point, Fernando directly points to “an invariable Galician regulation that does not contemplate increasing the distance from the living areas, even when the height of the wind turbines to be installed, the diameter of the rotor and its productivity increases”.
Specifically, the mayor affirms that “we speak of regulation that has remained intact for the last 15 or 20 years, when the turbines were around 60 meters high, with an average unit power of 0.95 MW; whereas the wind turbines contemplated in current projects reach 200 meters and a power of 3.45 MW”.
He also points out the effects on livestock activities and indicates that “many of the lands of the Vilasantar municipality affected by these projects are part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Thus, they would cease to be occupied for this economic use given their total dedication to wind energy in the case of some, and the change of urban qualification in the case of others. Thereby, they cease to be eligible for CAP aid”.
For all of the above reasons, the attitude of the neighbors regarding these wind projects generates a perception of renewable energies very similar to that of other electricity projects, which the mayor sums up in the following words: “greed, opacity and abuse of power“. Some of these feelings derive from lack of information as well as the dominant position of the firms and their abusive behavior.
Due to all of this, Fernando Pérez believes in the need to unite all the agents confronting the developers. Furthermore, he also believes it is crucial for administrations to help rural communities participate in projects.
Likewise, he affirms that Vilasantar does not oppose wind power due to the high density of wind farms, which is not the case of the projects presented for this territory, but rather the absence of prior approaches by these promoters.

Conclusion
They demand to be able to participate in the planning and development of wind energy in their municipality and to do so involving the population and local agents, above all in decision-making. This would improve acceptability and allow for a greater perception of wind energy and renewable energies in general. He believes that these energies must have social support; more and more final gross energy comes from this sector, so this energy must be perceived as beneficial in the fight against global warming. He therefore defends the need to find a balance/compromise between developing this energy and maintaining the quality of life of the affected territories. This will only be achieved if we enter a stage of social participation in wind power development.
Therefore, the mayor of Vilasantar concludes that the way his territory and, particularly, the local entity perceive wind energy will depend on whether they are allowed to be active agents in the process that permits and makes wind energy a part of rural development.
The global intervention of Fernando Pérez, Mayor of the Vilasantar City Council may be seen here.

Intervention by Mariano Iglesias

Context
Mesía belongs to the region of Ordes. It is situated at an equidistant point from the Galician cities of A Coruña, Santiago and Lugo. Spanning an area of 107 km² and with 2,500 registered inhabitants, Mesía has 180 population centers in addition to a number of isolated houses.
Mesía is known for its excellent rural, agricultural and forestry use. On the scale of Galicia, Mesía has the highest number of livestock count per inhabitant. Modern farms represent its effort to make the necessary investments so as not to lose productivity. According to the Mayor, these efforts have turned Mesía into one of the Galician municipalities with the highest milk production, and some outstanding ecological productions (such as the well-known and nationally awarded Casa Grande de Xanceda).
It has also made notably good use of its forestry. This was favored by the land concentration carried out in 95% of its territory, which in some cases counts 50 years of age. In its day, the Xunta declared Mesía a city council of agricultural interest and granted it numerous subsidies in favor of agricultural and livestock operations.

Energy history
Even though the Mesía municipality currently holds no wind farms, its geographical location has already provided it with four high-voltage line corridors conducting electricity to the key point of Mesón do Vento.

The perspective on wind energy
To begin with, the Mayor of Mesía – much like the Mayor of Vilasantar – affirms he is in favor of the development of wind energy and all renewables in general that contribute to the transformation towards clean energy production.
Although no wind farms have yet been established in his territory, Mariano Iglesias presents his municipality as an area affected by what is already known as the “wind boom”, taking into account the four currently projected wind farms at different stages of processing in its surroundings. At this point he recalls the latent picaresque of dividing macro projects into small wind farms to avoid the evaluation of the Ministry. He emphasizes that roads and substations conform the auxiliary elements of wind farm projects; two high-voltage lines required to evacuate energy and two crossing the territory from other wind farms in the direction of SET Mesón do Vento.

He considers that these facilities would make Mesía an unattractive territory to live in affecting the entire Ordes region beyond his municipality. This is why all the municipalities of this region have signed a statement rejecting the installation of wind farms in the region with the support of the Provincial Council Plenary. In this statement, he says, they urged the Xunta to declare the Ordes region free from the installation of these wind projects and wipe the area out of the Galician wind map.
The mayor of Mesía indicates that the current Xunta Wind Sector Plan is obsolete; again he points to the detail of the distance between the houses and these facilities: 500 meters while the wind turbines exceed 200 meters to the tip of the blade.
Livestock farmers have a limited territorial base, which they try to expand to make their farms profitable; interests that collide head-on with the large polygonal areas of the planned wind farms. The Mayor states that the refusal of the local corporation arises from the request of its neighbors and is based, above all, on socioeconomic reasons.
Even though they are in favor of wind energy, they do not consider its installation viable in places where it would imply eliminating the previous and latent economic system of the territory, as in the case of Mesía. Above all, he says, in a sector as important as the primary sector, whose transversal value became even more evident within the context of the state of alarm and health crisis derived from COVID-19. Regrettably, this notoriety will soon be forgotten.

Conclusion
The mayor considers “that a unique opportunity is being presented to the supra-municipal authorities, be it the Xunta or the central government, to directly enhance the rural environment.” He believes that including these projects in an environment that is already losing population, would only aggravate this situation. It would not only affect the socio-economic system mentioned but would imply, according to Mariano Iglesias, numerous additional impacts in terms of landscape, environment, heritage and even health.
While he considers these latter conditions should be evaluated by experts in the field, the Mayor of Mesía is “against the parks and high voltage lines in his municipality, as they are not compatible with the predominant and preceding territorial activities”. In addition, he considers the dynamics of these projects should “not be limited to a return in the income accounts of their promoters (not Galician), but rather be linked to a return within the place where they are implemented, both in the economic and social fields.”
To conclude, the mayor expresses himself very clearly by highlighting what he considers the duty of all public entities “to protect from what he calls wind speculation. A speculation that rewards the promoters and, thus, abandons those who have always fought for rural areas whilst being respectful of the environment, making it their way of life, and thereby generating wealth from generation to generation. His people. ”
The complete intervention of Mariano Iglesias may be seen here.

Intervention by Manuel Requeijo

Context
Muras is located in the north of the province of Lugo, on the border between La Mariña and Terra Chá. It has 680 registered inhabitants, more than half of whom are over 65 years old, which translates into a very old population. The dispersity of the population centers is also important. The mayor considers that these population and geographic characteristics favored the inclusion of wind power in the area in the years preceding the year he become mayor, 2015.
This Galician city council has the highest penetration of wind energy: it has 21 wind farms with 381 turbines. Once again, the predominant socioeconomic activities of this rural municipality are agriculture and livestock.

Energy history
The landscape of Muras has clearly changed over the past 25 years. Unprecedented wind power accumulated in this land. The mayor highlights the landscape impact derived from wind development, not only due to wind turbines but also the runways and evacuation lines. He also refers to acoustic impact.
The companies used both sale and expropriation to gain the right to settle infrastructures to install these 21 wind farms. The expropriation was carried out in cases where the neighbors did not accept the offers marked by the promoters (calculated between 30 and 100 pesetas per square meter). When these situations happened, “… a feeling of intimidation remained among the population, which is still remembered today.”
The mayor points out that “… the wind companies encountered the greatest difficulties on land owned by forest communities, but they finally agreed on an annual rent.” According to the documentation he manages, the figure is € 1,800 per year for each installed turbine. Concluding that it is “a very small figure compared to the economic wealth generated by each wind turbine.”

The perspective on wind energy
When Manuel Requeijo became mayor, “even with 381 windmills and 21 wind farms, some families have no electricity, and the City Council must bring that electricity/power to the different houses. One of the ideas we had in mind was that the aforementioned wealth generated by the wind companies should somehow revert to the neighbors. We decided to kick this off by establishing an aid for the payment of the power bill. These companies do not take this initiative in and of themselves and no superior administration puts this obligation on the table. This is why we decided to carry this out.
In a municipality with one wind turbine for every two inhabitants, some families had no electricity.
From that moment forward, the city council attempted to change this clearly unfair situation. Given the companies’ lack of will and the absence of initiatives promoted by supra-municipal public authorities, the Muras city council decided to initiate the study of energy consumption per family unit. Taking 2014 data as a reference, the study reveals that over 75% of the families spend around € 600 per year in energy.

As a result of all this, the City Council of Muras has launched a bonus initiative in the electricity bill. The electricity bill discount covers 80% of the family units with an annual bonus of up to € 600. Using this measure, the local entity intends to fight energy poverty, settle the population in the territory and compensate, to some extent, the occupation of the land by wind projects.
He also talks about a cheme aiming to promote the maintenance of SMEs economic activities (hotels, livestock, etc.): a linear subsidy of € 1,500

Conclusion
Manuel Requeijo ends his intervention by demanding a new generation of wind power that involves neighbors in its development, with information and economic, energy and social justice. However, he complains about the current lack of voice of the local Galician authorities, even aware as they are that wind energy is a potential source of wealth, which is just as important as rethinking its distribution and, to this end, a good approach involving all the agents.
The full intervention of Manuel Requeijo may be seen here:
https://tv.uvigo.es/video/5fb3ed2f765a4e27ca00e784

Final thoughts
The mayor of Vilasantar reaffirms that following the “obsolete Galician regulations“, the promoters comply with the provisions of the law but precisely what Fernando Pérez demands is “… a law in accordance with the evolution of wind machinery over recent years”
Mariano Iglesias, mayor of Mesía forcefully states that “… even receiving economic compensation like the ones received by local Portuguese entities, some of the potential impacts of the installation of wind projects in the territory would be irreversible and therefore ‘uncompensated’ by any economic contribution whatsoever.”
“Changing in the legislation to obtain benefits for rural communities, eliminating expropriation as an easy application, and directly paying income to the owners of the land” were some of the final proposals of Manuel Requeijo, mayor of Muras. Likewise, he insisted on the high level of misinformation in the wind farm installation process, which limits the bargaining power of mountain communities and city councils. This latter aspect was also pointed out by the two mayors of the municipalities of A Coruña.