Wind assault, the race against time begins

The hourglass of time marks the rhythm like the tempestuous rolling of an annoyed drum. Every day that passes in this land in the middle of the sea, the " tsunami" risk becomes more and more imminent, that of the rotating steel forests that loom like an announced disaster on the ridges of the island. For days, since the regional council announced a bill to stop the wind and photovoltaic onslaught, a race against time has started.

Countdown

The agendas of multinationals have inexorably started the countdown. From Barcelona to Copenhagen, from New York to Beijing, everywhere the most insidious cynicism has arisen, that of authorizations that must be obtained at all costs, even if only to claim billions in damages from anyone who "unduly" stands in the way of their projects. The 18 months that the regional council has taken its toll on the whole of Sardinia. Up until now, the "profiteers" of the Sardinian wind and sun have taken their time and it is certain that for a few days now the slot machine accounts for the workers. billion-dollar incentives accompanied that of the timing linked to the authorization procedures. There was a tacit agreement between the offices in Rome and Cagliari, those responsible for issuing authorizations and permits, and the "lords of the wind" not to demand strict compliance with the prescribed times. in the rules on transparency or procedural acceleration marked by the Pnrr. No one so far, except in rare cases, has used stamped paper to solicit obligations, deadlines and peremptory deadlines.

Avalanche of stresses

It is certain, however, that since the announcement of the Regional Council, an avalanche of requests is ready, all aimed at respecting the deadlines, to approve that mountain of projects based on the procedures established by the regulations in force. From an optional acceptance of delays we will quickly move on to the peremptory request for approval of the projects, with a massive apostille that will point to possible tax liabilities in the event of failure to approve. If before we could wait, now multinationals and satellite companies want to seize the 18-month window offered by the bill of the Sardinian regional council to bring home, and make the most of in any way, the approval of the invasion plans .

Before constraints

They know that suitable areas, if they are ever identified, cannot have retroactive effect with respect to the authorizations already received. The objective of the "lords of the incentives" is, therefore, to obtain them quickly to avoid running into new limits and restrictive regulations. The spectrum for Sardinia is all contained in a dossier monitored directly by Palazzo Chigi, that of the Environmental Impact Assessments linked to the Pnrr. To date, in that long list of wind and photovoltaic deals there are 1,520 projects throughout Italy, but 294 are those located in Sardinia. In practice, an infinite amount of requests are waiting for approval at the Ministry of the Environment, with Sardinia at the top of the ranking with 20% of projects compared to the whole of Italy. The most worrying data, however, is that of the projects intended to devastate the ridges and agricultural fields of Sardinia which have almost all exceeded the deadlines set by law for examination by the Commission established ad hoc by the Draghi Government to speed up their approval. Without prejudice to those presented at the beginning of 2024, all the others date back to the 2022-23 period with the abundant exceeding of those 175 days set in the Simplification Decree wanted by the Draghi Government in 2021 to halve all the previous deadlines set at 360 days for the ordinary procedure. It is no coincidence that this halving of the timing has led to a drastic shift of projects on the list of Pniec & Pnrr plans for Environmental Impact Assessments. The data is eloquent: Via's questions on the ordinary procedure are just 271 compared to 1,520 on the special one.

Bus Lane

An element that significantly increases the concerns linked to the "phantom" Sardinian moratorium, given that a large part of those projects are placed in the fast track of the Ministry, the same one called to guarantee rapid and certain times. It is clear that the looming deadline of 18 months established by the Regional Council, a period which blocks only the "construction" of plants but not the authorization procedures, will make it easier for wind and photovoltaic companies to claim the immediate closure of the approval. They will be able to do this precisely by virtue of the Decree passed by the Draghi Government on accelerations and simplifications which has overwhelmed the entire island with projects for blades and panels.

A tsunami looms

Others could soon be added to the projects already presented, given that the overall data, processed by Terna with respect to the requests for connection and connection to the main electricity grids, makes the number of blades, 200 meters high, which the "lords of the wind” they would like to stick far and wide across Sardinia, to which must be added the 1,200 300 meter high offshore blades planned for the Sardinian sea. To this figure must be added the impressive expanse of photovoltaic panels presented for the electricity connection, with the occupation of 70,000 hectares of agricultural land from north to south of the island.

Speculators at work

The scenario is all too clear: speculation in these 18 months will not only not stop, but will be activated like never before to obtain the necessary authorizations for the invasion of the island. The previously announced "planning" measures will be of no use, if they are ever prepared, be it the updating or revision of the Landscape Plan, or the definition of suitable areas. Anyone understands: the complexity of those measures will take years. Hypothesizing tight deadlines is unrealistic and risks turning into an irreversible "boomerang". For this reason, an urgent, effective regulation is needed, capable of protecting the "ban" from possible constitutional appeals. In this direction, Sardinia has a single instrument: the Sardinian Statute, art.3 letter ( f ) which attributes exclusive competence over urban planning to the Region. A ban on wind and photovoltaic devastation fully falls within that exclusive and "constitutional" jurisdiction. After all, the Meloni Government could say nothing as it is relying on an urban planning law to stop photovoltaics. Everything else risks being out of time.