The windswept Italian island is a prime location for harvesting the energy of the future. But residents fear poor planning of wind farms and unregulated speculation will turn their homeland into a European Wild West for renewables.
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00:00We see ourselves in our territories under assault.
00:08We ask that the energy transition be regulated.
00:14Innovation always creates concern because it must be known to communicate and above all it must be made clear the advantages.
00:22Renewables are also an opportunity, even if they are only a problem.
00:26Look at this magnificent horizon that may be compromised by a forest of wind turbines.
00:44In the industrial area of Porto Scuso, in the southwest of Sardinia,
00:48the tower of the Svetta thermoelectric plant, next to a quarry of wind turbines.
00:56It is one of the three Sardinian power plants that, by burning coal or wasting oil,
01:00produce 75% of the regional electric energy.
01:06Around me there are the symbols of the challenge that Europe has undertaken,
01:09the end of fossil fuels and the development of renewable energies.
01:13The past is the future, but in the present the management of the energy transition unleashes a wave of protest.
01:26Giancarlo Ballisai, a retired psychologist and one of the founders of a committee of residents against energy speculation.
01:37He brings us to his land in Porto Scuso,
01:40already partly expropriated during the construction of one of the largest wind turbines in Italy,
01:45finished in 2011.
01:48In this area here, there is a project for 213 hectares of photovoltaic plant.
01:55On the other hand, there is another project of 73 hectares.
02:00We ask that the energy transition be regulated,
02:06respecting the rights of the residents, of the landowners, and that there is an economic return.
02:14We leave for the nearby municipality of Nuragi Figus to meet a member of the committee.
02:20The land of his family business is at risk of being expropriated.
02:24He will host a substation to collect the energy produced by the new wind and photovoltaic plants.
02:31In this area there are planned more than 12 projects.
02:34Each project involves about 1,200 unexpropriated particles.
02:39A total devastation.
02:41Many people do not know anything yet and are unaware of everything.
02:45Without this land, Venancio worries, the future of his family is at risk.
02:52This land is a single oasis left in this territory,
02:56already devastated and polluted by other industrial realities.
03:00They will expropriate it, with the figures from 0.58 to just over 2 euros per square meter.
03:07Who lived from this, I do not know how, with what other form of substation, will be able to live.
03:16Three years of delay in the national law on areas suitable
03:20have caused the demand for new projects to explode.
03:23Sardinia has received more than 800 requests,
03:26enough to produce 56 gigawatts of green energy,
03:306.2 that the island should produce by 2030,
03:34to reach zero emissions in Europe in 2050.
03:44But how much renewable energy does Sardinia need?
03:48How many of these requests could go well?
03:51I asked one of the greatest national experts in the field, at the University of Cagliari.
03:57Objectively, we are facing a massive demand for authoritative routes,
04:03which are still at the beginning.
04:05We are not facing an invasion of plants.
04:10According to Pilo, no more than ten gigawatts will be made in Sardinia
04:15and will serve mainly to the needs of the region, once the fossil fuel plants are closed.
04:22These 6 gigawatts, which some estimate by 2050 should be 10,
04:28this is the largest number that can circulate,
04:31of these 10, we have already made 2 gigawatts,
04:34will be able to cover the entire new electrical demand in the transition to the future.
04:42If only a part of these 800 requests will go to the port,
04:46where will the plants be set up and who will decide?
04:52From these questions a political case was born.
04:55The newly elected president of the region has blocked from July all authorizations
05:01with a moratorium quickly imposed by the government.
05:06We have faced the issue of aligning this tide of authorizations with a suspension,
05:12which had the task of taking time to build a regional law
05:18for suitable areas, for non-suitable areas, for ordinary areas and for those linked.
05:24The president intends to use the moratorium to define a regional energy plan,
05:28especially to create a local energy company.
05:33We have an opportunity insofar as we can produce electricity,
05:38and the price is made by the producers.
05:40Sardinia has the possibility of having an active role
05:43and not to undergo third-party energy production management.
05:51In the wait for a regional energy plan and the definition of suitable areas,
05:56a fortnight of projects authorized in advance are released to the moratorium.
06:01One of these is in the municipality of Villa Cidro.
06:06Look at the size of these blades.
06:08They are intended for one of the nine aerogenerators of Villa Cidro's Ionic Park,
06:13under construction after 16 years of inter-bureaucratic and the approval of three municipal administrations,
06:19and despite this, today strongly contested.
06:24Antonio Muschias, mechanical engineer, is a member of the Local Committee Against Energy Speculation.
06:31He is convinced that multinationals leave only crumbs to the territory, facilitated by state decrees.
06:38Compensations are not economic.
06:40They are work compensations that can be the realization of cycle paths.
06:45These are not compulsory compensations that can never exceed 3% of the costs of these plants.
06:55According to Antonio, a correct energy transition
06:58passes through the revision of the entire energy market.
07:03Electricity production cannot be left in the hands of the private sector.
07:08It is necessary for the public to intervene here,
07:11because the number and the power of the plants must be adequately calibrated
07:16with respect to our needs.
07:23The Sardinian Sea has also ended up in the sights of multinationals,
07:26and the government has to decide on offshore plants.
07:30But the National Plan for the Management of Maritime Space is still missing.
07:34In fact, the ITER of the projects goes on without rules
07:38that indicate where to place the plants and how.
07:43More than 20 projects have been presented for the realization of offshore wind turbines.
07:48Eight of these could be installed here,
07:51off the coast of the island of San Pietro,
07:54on the routes of the Tonni and the Falco della Regina.
08:00The ITER of the ICNUSA Wind Power is in the advanced phase,
08:03a project behind which there is also the multinational with state participation, ENI.
08:08The population is lined up against.
08:13This plant consists of 42 mega wind turbines,
08:16of 285 meters in height at the highest point.
08:21It is an island of 30 km in length and 10 km in width.
08:28So, in our opinion, there will be a devastating and irreversible impact on the marine environment.
08:42The administration of Carlo Forte has expressed negative opinions on offshore projects.
08:47The requests of the municipality have been ignored for the moment.
08:52It is not even possible to read the entire history of the practice,
08:58because some parts have been covered,
09:02so it is not possible to have a clear understanding of the studies
09:08in support of their conclusions,
09:11on the fact that the impacts would be null or absolutely limited
09:16and that they would be of a short period.
09:2250 years.
09:24It is roughly the lifespan of these plants that are being built today.
09:29What will these coasts and these territories be like in 50 years?
09:35Here in Sardinia and in Europe,
09:37population and territory already pay the errors of the past,
09:40also in the name of renewable energies.
09:43Repairing the damage is expensive and not always possible.