The City Council of Arico does not know the marin wind farm projector whose construction is planned in front of the coastline of the Ariqueras towns of Las Maretas and San Miguel de Tajao. The local government demands dialogue and consensus in order to avoid any damage to these enclaves and the activities that take place in them. “We will have to sit down with the Port Authority and the promoters of this initiative to know exactly what they want to do,” reflects the mayor, Sebastián Martín.
The councilor understands that all parties must agree. «It will be necessary to agree with the Arico government and with the neighborhoods that will be affected for the purposes of correct any impact that it can occur on the coast of Ariquera, both in the landscape and in the fishing activity “, defends Martín.
After receiving the administrative concession request for the occupation of 619,750 square meters in the sea off the coast of Granadilla and Arico under the authority of the entity –as well as 5,300 square meters of seabed and 1,375 of subsoil–, the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has opened the procedure to install the first offshore wind farm in the province . The request comes from the company Parque Eólico Marino Granadilla SL and would mean a great advance in the penetration of renewable energies on the Island.
“It will be necessary to determine the impact it will have on the landscape and on the fishing activity”
Is the first large off shore wind farm project which occurs in the Western Isles. As reflected in the project presented by the company, the wind turbines would be installed in two sea areas located in front of the towns of Las Maretas and San Miguel de Tajao, in the municipality of Arico.
Avoid imposition
The mayor of Arico is insistent on the need to “dialogue and reach consensus,” especially with the City Council. «You cannot repeat what happened with the installation of the wind farms on the land of the municipality», States Sebastián Martín bluntly. It alludes to the fact that the construction of the existing complexes has been “due to unilateral decisions adopted by the Government of the Canary Islands and that we have repeatedly had to appeal to the courts.”
This “way of dialogue and consensus” is essential to know the details of the project proposed by the company Parque Eólico Marino Granadilla SL, such as the distance and the different elements that will make up this infrastructure. One of the concerns that the mayor expresses most insistently is “to determine the impact that this proposal will have on the landscape and the local economy». For this reason, it commits the Ariquero municipal government to “be vigilant, pending on these projects”, for which “we will open a dialogue with the promoters and with the Port Authority.”
The Port Authority of Santa Cruz of Tenerife has been planning for several years the development of a project to house a marine wind farm in the areas under its jurisdiction assigned to the Port of Granadilla. Its managers consider that the coasts of Granadilla de Abona and Arico meet the ideal conditions for this equipment due to the continuity and intensity of the wind, taking into account that it is almost permanent. This strip of the Island is suitable for obtaining wind energy.
Arico is the municipality of Tenerife with the largest number of renewable energy production facilities. Among them, more than 100 wind turbines in the nine wind farms in operation, with another 23 projects are under study of which the municipal government assures that 10 will be authorized “with all security.” 15 photovoltaic parks are operating on ariquero land. At present, the effect of wind farms on ariquero soil is 39.33 square kilometers, which is equivalent to 22% of the surface of the second largest municipality on the island (178.8 square kilometers). The Land Law requires a 10% fee for the use of rustic land, a measure applied by the municipal government.
