Renewable energy revolt in Sardinia, Italy’s coal-fired island

The bolts securing the towering wind turbine were unscrewed under the cover of darkness, an act of sabotage that symbolizes a violent backlash against renewable energy in Sardinia.

Long summers and strong winds make the Italian island a prime location for wind and solar power, but intense investor interest has alarmed locals, who say Sardinia is being exploited.

The loose bolts were discovered before the turbine on the outskirts of the village of Mamoiada toppled over, but it was one of several facilities vandalized this year as regional authorities drew up rules that determine where clean energy structures can be built.

“There has been a visceral rejection of renewable energy. The situation is really heated, the vandalism an attempt to intimidate politicians,” said Marta Battaglia, head of the environmental group Legambiente in Sardinia.

“People say that renewable energy scares us… and they destroy the landscape and therefore we will lose our identity,” she said.

There has been similar opposition to renewable energy in other European countries, such as the UK and France.

“But (in Sardinia) the landscape is already being altered by climate change,” Battaglia said.

The Mediterranean island’s once lush hinterland is scarred by drought, and summer wildfires rip through forests, sending smoke billowing over its white-sand beaches.

It is also the Italian region that emits the most planet-warming greenhouse gases per capita, according to the environmental research and protection institute ISPRA.

Sardinia is highly dependent on coal. About 74 percent of its electricity came from burning biomass or fossil fuels in 2022. Most of that was coal.

However, Italy is phasing out coal-fired power plants. The two in Sardinia are set to close in 2028.

‘Invasion’

Still, regional president Alessandra Todde was elected in February on a promise to stop what she called the “invasion of renewable energy” after a surge in the number of permit requests.

Critics say big companies are trying to install large plants that will produce far more electricity than Sardinia needs, with the surplus sent on to the rest of Italy.

A new electricity corridor to the mainland is to open in 2028.

The surplus could also be stored in Sardinia to make hydrogen for use in hard-to-decarbonize industries.

Investors have taken advantage of an absence over the past two years of national guidelines for regional regulations.

Sardinia must add 6.2 gigawatts (GW) of green energy to the current 2.78 GW by 2030 to help Italy meet EU targets to curb climate change.

Italian power grid company Terna said it has received 804 requests in Sardinia for renewable connections to the grid, totaling around 54 GW. Only 0.4 GW has been allocated.

‘Unsuitable’

The national guidelines were finally published in June.

But Todde kept his election promise and in July ordered an 18-month moratorium on new green projects, including those approved but where work had not begun.

The government said it will challenge the case in court.

Achieving the 2030 target requires installing an extra 1 GW of green electricity per year in Sardinia, against the current 0.2 GW, according to the solar lobby Elettricita Futura. The amount will be difficult to achieve without building large solar or wind plants.

Undeterred, Todde presented a new framework for renewable energy in September, which should become law by the end of the year.

According to the decree, “most of Sardinia will be unsuitable”, she said.

Santolo Meo, electrical engineering professor at the Federico II University of Naples, said that “instead of bans” the rules “should have indicated how to reconcile renewable energy with habitat protection”.

For example, “Sardinia is one of the few regions that could very profitably exploit tidal energy far offshore,” he said.

Experts say the new rules mean 99 percent of the island is now illegal. And the moratorium has not stopped the protests.

‘Hands off Sardinia’

Protesters chanting “Hands off Sardinia!” met in the regional parliament in Cagliari last month and demanded that renewable energy be limited to rooftops and local energy community projects.

“We have to produce energy for Sardinia, for our own homes,” 36-year-old Davide Meloni of a local “territorial defense group” told AFP. He criticized “attempts by multinational corporations to colonize” the island.

Other Italian regions have also seen applications for permits shoot up, but environmentalists blame Sardinia’s backlash on influential media they say are fueling a distorted narrative about renewable energy.

The Cagliari protesters blamed big business, Rome and the EU.

“Sardinia is synonymous with wild landscapes, unspoiled beauty,” said 54-year-old Marta Rosas as she pointed across the bay from the boardwalk to a mountainous area beyond.

“This is what we have inherited from our ancestors and which we are fighting to preserve for our grandchildren.”

© 2024 AFP