Verdemar Ecologistas en Acción has expressed its opposition to the installation of a photovoltaic plant in the Hozgarganta river and next to the Pinar del Rey pine forest, in Jimena and San Roque, respectively.
"Thousands of hectares of solar panels are planned in the Campo de Gibraltar to obtain alternative energy for export," the group laments.
In this sense, they add that "the straw that has broken the camel's back has been the intended solar photovoltaic plant with 100 MWp in the fertile plain of Barría, in Jimena de La Frontera. It will cover an area of 100 hectares and consist of 175,446 photovoltaic modules in a flood zone of the river Hozgarganta. The one in Pinar del Rey has the same characteristics," say the ecologists.
"This is barbaric, we cannot do away with these emblematic areas of the Campo de Gibraltar. We expect the opposition of the corporations of Jimena and San Roque" in the face of "this avalanche of photovoltaic and wind projects in the Campo de Gibraltar", which, according to Verdemar, "has nothing to do with a fair decarbonisation".
"We are saturated with dozens of these solar and wind projects, evacuation substations, power lines, intercontinental power lines... which continue to be exposed to the public in the public interest without any planning," they argue.
"The region is oversaturated with projects that are clearly aggressive to the landscape and biodiversity", denounces Verdemar, which recalls that the Campo de Gibraltar "has already paid a high toll with the heavy industrial estate to continue to hang this region with this territorial, economic and environmental occupation".
"The contribution of solar photovoltaic and wind energy to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the consolidation of a decarbonised productive fabric is undeniable, but the environmental impacts derive from the occupation of territory and its effect on biodiversity and the annihilation of the sustainable development of the countryside and orchards of the Campo de Gibraltar," they add.
"The fragmentation of the territory, the occupation of the land, the landscape, the consumption of water, the conflicting agricultural and livestock uses cannot be ignored... The avalanche of projects in the area exceeds 2,000 hectares and is going to put the nail in the coffin of the Campo de Gibraltar. These are being carried out without any planning", they allege.
"We support the photovoltaic alternative, essential for the decarbonisation of the economy, but not in this way", says Verdemar, which denounces "the purely speculative intention of many of these projects, the most socially and ecologically sustainable option is being relegated".