The conservationist group Verdemar Ecologistas en Acción has announced the filing of its appeal against the electrical interconnection from the Peninsula to Ceuta, which they insist will cause an "environmental impact on the peninsula," with particular emphasis on San Roque.
For Verdemar, three wind turbines from one of the projects planned in the Alboran Sea would provide electric power to the Autonomous City of Ceuta. "Instead, laying a 'political' submarine cable will cause an environmental impact on the peninsula," they insist.
In this regard, they emphasize the "33% drop" in tension along the path when crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, the invasion of the Campo de Gibraltar by solar photovoltaic or wind farms, which the Autonomous City of Ceuta will consume from the thermal power plants in the Campo de Gibraltar dependent on fossil fuels, and that when the interconnection to the autonomous city breaks, it will be the same situation.
Verdemar points out that, according to REE, the energy generated and consumed in Ceuta during 2022 was 195,399 MWh, almost entirely from diesel engines (99.8%) and gas engines (0.2%). Ceuta's electricity production is equivalent to 0.1% of the national total.
Currently, electricity production in Ceuta comes from a thermal power plant managed by ENDESA with a capacity of 98.98 Mw (with diesel engines and gas turbines).
They recall that the residents of Puente Mayorga, in San Roque, "live just a few meters from where the substation for 4 Combined Cycle Power Plants of 1,600 Mw and a petrochemical plant distilling 14 million tons of crude oil barrels is intended to be installed," questioning if there is a desire to "continue massacring the same citizens."
"Why don't you find the necessary Mgw in that autonomous city? We believe that these 'fossil fuel-dependent' thermal power plants will also serve to provide electricity to Ceuta at the expense of a depressed population, slowly dying as a result of the environmental toll they suffer," they stress.
Wind and photovoltaic projects
Verdemar claims that in the Campo de Gibraltar, "there is a proliferation of wind and photovoltaic projects, occupying agricultural lands and areas with steppe birds, being carried out without any planning," and that "this project will increase the impact: the increase of photovoltaic parks, wind farms, and high-voltage lines and substations."
On the other hand, Verdemar finds it "completely inappropriate" to evaluate the environmental repercussions of this project in isolation and separated from other projects affecting the region. From the ecologists' point of view, it is "methodologically impossible to ensure the environmental viability of this installation if it is not combined with the cumulative and synergistic effect that parallel projects will have on the territory."
They recall that there are already "numerous jurisprudences" that "dismiss the evaluation of projects in a segregated manner, without considering the combined and synergistic impact of the accumulation of similar plants." In their opinion, the Administration "should not accept this elusion to consider the combined impact of such installations."
These infrastructures, Verdemar assures, "will further collapse the Campo de Gibraltar, increasing the high-voltage electrical communication networks, weaving even more the web in which we are immersed."
And to top it all off, they remind that thermal power plants dependent on fossil fuels are still operating in the Campo de Gibraltar, citing the ENDESA Thermal Power Plant - Natural Gas 2 groups of 400 Mw, the New Generating Plant of the South of Naturgy and CEPSA, Combined Cycle Power Plant 2 groups of 400 MW, the Bahía de Algeciras Thermal Power Plant of Repsol, Combined Cycle of 830 MW, and the VIESGO coal-fired Thermal Power Plant of 560 Mw.
For Verdemar, the environmental toll "we are paying in the Bay of Algeciras and its surroundings" is "worthy of study," and the industrial pollution from heavy industry "is causing health problems for people, forests, and the environment."
The petrochemical industry is distilling 14 million tons of crude oil, transferring (bunkering) more than 10 million tons of fuel in this part of the Strait of Gibraltar, Indorama Ventures Chemical manufactures isophthalic acid, a key chemical additive in the manufacture of PET for packaging. IPA – 220,000 tons per year PET – 203,000 tons per year PTA – 325,000 tons per year and it is intended to expand to 1 million tons/year, the steel mill ACERINOX SAU has a melting capacity of almost 1 million tons/year of stainless steel, and other industries around the Bahía de Algeciras port that generate a significant impact.
These industries and maritime traffic emit, Verdemar recalls, "more than 6,000 tons of CO2 per year, 5000 tons of NOx, 4,000 tons of SOx, and 300 tons of particles, of which 30% comes from maritime traffic, 26% from the petrochemical industry, 27% from thermal power plants, and 7% from road traffic."