The Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA) argued last week that the wind hybridization project at the Alcoutim Photovoltaic Plant, in the northeast of the Algarve, should be rejected.
“The reformulation now presented does not resolve the serious environmental impacts identified in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process nor the significant effects on local populations, thus defending [a SPEA] that the project must be definitively rejected”, reads a statement from the non-governmental organization (NGO) that promotes the study and conservation of birds in Portugal. For this entity, the proposal to reformulate the project “does not resolve the problems already identified” in the initial public consultation, maintaining “high risks for threatened species and cumulative impacts for both ecosystems and people living in the region”.
Until this Wednesday, the reformulation presented for the wind hybridization project at the Alcoutim Photovoltaic Plant (also known as Solara4) was under public consultation, which comes after the original proposal received an unfavorable opinion from the Assessment Committee (CA). The NGO emphasizes that the company promoting the project itself recognizes, in the reformulation proposal, that the CA classified the impacts as “very significant and non-minimizable negatives, admitting that there is no technical margin for an effective reformulation”. “When a project is proposed to be installed in a proven unsuitable location, there are no valid mitigation and compensation measures”, states Pedro Neto, executive director of SPEA, cited in the statement.
SPEA highlights as “particularly worrying the prosecutor’s attitude regarding direct impacts on populations”.
Migratory corridor
Although villages such as Malfrades and Monte das Preguiças are located less than 800 meters from the turbines planned as part of the wind project, the main proposed minimization measure is limited to “informing and raising awareness” of people living in these areas that they will be “subject to an uncomfortable and potentially propagable level of noise”. For SPEA, this approach “normalizes the exposure of populations to negative impacts instead of avoiding them”.
According to the organization, the project threatens an area critical to the survival of several species of endangered birds and the implementation of wind turbines would put at risk an important migratory corridor used by soaring birds such as eagles, storks and vultures. “It would also put the conservation of large eagles in Portugal at risk, including the main national breeding center for Bonelli’s eagles”, the statement reads.
Pedro Neto insists that “this is not an isolated project, it is another blow to an ecologically sensitive region” and that the northeast of the Algarve “is one of the last strongholds for species threatened with extinction”.
The Solara4 project envisages a park consisting of 25 wind turbines, with a nominal unit power of 6.6 MW (megawatt) and a total power of 165 MWN (thermal power in the reactor).
The company joins other environmental protection entities that have already warned of the risks of this wind project.
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