The municipal government of Arico calls for the study of alternatives to locate the South offshore wind farm and proposes to place the wind turbines directly in the direct surroundings of the Port of Granadilla. In the allegations presented, it ensures that the activity that is intended to be installed generates significant socio-economic effects on the municipality, taking into account its location in front of the Arica coast.
Parque Eólico Marino Granadilla, SL requested the occupation of 619,750 square meters of water surface, 5,300 square meters of seabed and 1,375 square meters of subsoil to be used for the installation of a 50 megawatt offshore wind farm in the Port of Granadilla, in front of the ariqueras towns of Las Maretas and Tajao. It is the first major offshore wind farm project to be presented in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife whose administrative concession is granted by the Port Authority.
The ariquero mayor, Sebastián Martín, presented allegations in which it is stated that the proposal “negatively affects the quality of life of the populations of the coast” and recalls “the social and institutional consensus to preserve the entire coastal strip of the installation of wind and photovoltaic parks for the protection of the landscape and the natural environment, as well as promoting sustainable development in this municipal territory.” It insists on requiring the prior planning and organization of the electricity sector and a special territorial plan that “regulates the implementation of any energy production, transformation and distribution infrastructure, with special reference to wind, photovoltaic and solar thermal parks.”
Fishing.
The South offshore wind farm project “directly and indirectly affects the development of a pre-existing economic activity in the area”. Its construction “would come into conflict with this primary economic sector, declared of a strategic nature”, because it would condition, limit and prevent “the fishing activity that is traditionally carried out in the area, in addition to affecting the seabed that sustains said activity”. The proximity to the coast and the environmental noise “would directly affect the closest population centers, as well as marine wildlife.”
Sebadales.
The preliminary project for the offshore wind farm alludes to the fact that there is a community of sebadales in the area “very well preserved and considered vulnerable in the Spanish Catalog of Endangered Species and as of interest to Canarian ecosystems in the Canarian Catalog of Protected Species ».
The execution of this project would generate “environmental noise and a significant landscape impact on the marine visual basin of Arico”, especially Las Maretas, La Caleta, Las Arenas, Tajao, La Jaca, La Listada, Abades, el Porís and Las Eras. . At the same time, it would reduce the activity of restoration, rural tourism and vacation rentals “by devaluing the destination due to the loss of environmental value.”
No alternative.
“The documentation does not contain an analysis of alternatives located in other places on the island with less impact on the population, greater proximity to consumption points and with equal or greater offshore wind potential,” says the Arico City Council in its allegations. . In fact, the municipal government considers the port of Granadilla itself as an alternative to install the offshore wind farm. He uses as an argument that “it would have a lesser effect on the resident population, since it is industrial land”, he points out in his allegations
The General Directorate of Health
In agreement with the neighborhood associations and the fishermen, the mayor of Arico, Sebastián Martín, asks the General Directorate of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands -which has warned of the impact that the Gran Canaria offshore wind farm (located many more distance from the coast than the one proposed by the Port Authority for the municipality’s coastline)–, “which is manifested in the same way with the Arico project”. The Councilor for the Environment, Andrés Martínez, showed his support “for the groups that would be most directly affected” and reiterated that Arico “is in favor of the use of renewable energies, but not how it is being carried out, without consensus with our municipality. The councilor for the Primary Sector, Davinia García, indicated that these allegations “have been prepared with the help of all the associations in the municipality, especially those most affected.
