This renewable energy came to take his place fossil fuels. But sometimes they also cause problems. Some NGOs are alarmed about the Spanish Government’s plans to grant permits. offshore wind farms northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Because could jeopardize the unique migratory corridor that millions of birds follow each year.. They demand care to ensure that the “mistakes” of deploying renewable energy sources on land are not repeated at sea.
The Iberian northwest has great potential for the development of offshore wind power. for perfect wind conditions. Proof of this is that the recently published Marine Spatial Planning Plans (POEM) have created eight ‘Zones of High Potential for Offshore Wind Power Development’ (ZAPER) on the North Atlantic border. Galicia and Asturias represent more than half of the total area allocated for the deployment of offshore wind installations in Spain..
Energy companies are showing great interest in placing offshore wind farms in these waters. so much now Nine wind energy projects submitted in Galician waters in the last two years, before POEMs are approved. Problem: The limits of many do not match the limits of approved ZAPER spaces, in addition there is currently no regulation governing the auction of venues.
Presented projects –San Cibrao, San Brandán, Nordes, Galwind, Volanteiro, Celta I, Celta II, Ventus and Breogán– about 400 wind turbines with a capacity of about 6,000 MW. However, the proposed occupied areas partially overlap, so it will not be possible to develop all projects as prepared.
immigration corridor
The area where these wind farms are planned is part of a migration corridor of highest importance for many bird species.. For exactly this value, Nature 2000 Network A new Special Protection Area for Birds (ZEPA) exists in that area to cover a large portion of this migration corridor.
But there are more plans affecting that area to defend the perimeter. As a result of reviewing the identified shortcomings in the Natura 2000 Network, Miteco plans to group existing marine ZEPAs off the coastline of Galicia and Asturias into a new large ZEPA. Western Galician-Cantabrian Migration Corridor.
It will include other residential areas declared under its category. sea areas (Cabo Peñas, Punta de Candelaria-Ría de Ortigueira-Estaca de Bares, Ferrolterra-Valdoviño Beach, Costa da Morte and Rías Baixas de Galicia) and It would add continuity to the ‘highway’, where millions of movements of tens of species of seabirds were recorded each year..
SEO/BirdLife highlights some of them as threatened as the Balearic minute hand (Puffinus mauretanicus) or Atlantic Ashy Shearwater (Calonectris borealis), also has the northernmost known contiguous coastal breeding populations.
Paulo Lago, an SEO/BirdLife Marine Program technician in Galicia, believes “without a doubt”: This new ZEPA’s announcement will be “good news for the birds.”by providing ecological connectivity and coherence between different currently protected areas”.
However, he considers it necessary to continue research to gauge its “true scope and significance”. place of passage and feedingBearing in mind that we should add the wintering and terrestrial birds that pass through the region during their migration to the breeding or migrating seabirds,” he said.
Collision fatality rate
For all these reasons, the NGO requested the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Miteco) to extend its surface to at least cover the entire continental shelf and slope, “in the northern part of the corridor”. availability of scientific information on the migration, feeding and resting areas of seabirds and taking into account the precautionary principle”.
It further requested that they at least consider the following: seabird species As Miteco’s proposal excludes a large number of domains, the currently available Natura 2000 Network domains have been declared.
Nicolás López, SEO/BirdLife delegate in Asturias, explains that the ZEPA of the proposed West Galicia-Cantabria Migration Corridor is “particularly” at several points bordering with “declared areas of high wind potential (ZAPER). worrying In the southern region of the corridor where the NOR-1 wind farm is embedded, located at the outer boundary of the protected area, at the border of the continental shelf”.
“This reminds us that The most immediate impact of wind farms on birds is collision mortality.and this may be especially true in an area with a high density of migration migration,” he adds.
With this fact in mind, SEO/BirdLife has already submitted comments and claims to most of the projects and precautionary principleespecially in an area that represents one of the main migration corridors of sea and land birds in the world.
The NGO specifically asked Miteco not to continue processing the submitted projects and to expand the proposed protected area.
Moreover, SEO/BirdLife requests that no project be processed without a prior strategic environmental assessment. In each of the ZAPERs and an approved auction decision This prioritizes projects that have less environmental impact and greater social benefits for the local population.
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Contact address of the environment department: crizclimatica@prensaiberica.es
Source: Informacion
James Sean is a writer for “Social Bites”. He covers a wide range of topics, bringing the latest news and developments to his readers. With a keen sense of what’s important and a passion for writing, James delivers unique and insightful articles that keep his readers informed and engaged.