Aeolian assault, blitz on the Gulf of Angels
The plan includes 93 cyclopean blades at sea, from Nora to Capo Carbonara. The Italian-Spanish project
Mauro Pili
Sant'Efisio will not be happy. Neither are the Angels of the Gulf. The Phoenicians themselves, who in ancient times invaded the coast of Pula, will find themselves out of the blue usurped themselves of the name of Nora, handed down to the present day to recognize those ancient vestiges on the sea. The break-in is underground, as befits the potentates who surround the prey to make it their own. They scrutinize the weak link, attempt approaches with all potential political references and beyond, and then launch the assault, as if there was no tomorrow on the island of Sardinia. In reality, they had been around for some time, at least a year, since the Minister of Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani, launched himself in proclamations as the owner of the ironworks, ready to decide with decrees, to make us regret the "bad grace" of the edicts Spanish or Piedmontese, the wild occupation of the sea and the peaks of Sardinia. It is not known whether, before spending time in Sardinia, the new prophets of the assault on the sea showed up in viale Trento, the representative office of the Autonomous Region, until proven otherwise, of Sardinia. Certainly not a single note is recorded on institutional meetings, always harbingers of cameras in tow. In this case nothing, absolute silence.
Fairy tales & business
Yet they, the Italian-Spaniards of the newly formed team for wind energy at sea, are declining the Sardinia dossier far and wide with the fairy tales to which Sardinians should be accustomed by now: work galore, rich prizes and lots of shovels wind turbines placed in the middle of the sea, this time that of the capital of Sardinia. Not a few shovels, a forest, not a single proscenium, but the entire Gulf of Angels, from Capo Carbonara to Villasimius, up to the extreme tip of the Torre di Nora, in Pula, on the opposite side. For the two offshore wind farms designed on colonial inspiration, they did not choose an original name, they took to use and consumption of their business none other than that of the most famous archaeological site on the Cagliari coast, the ancient Nora. The dozens of tankers loaded with black oil that threaten the horizon every day were not enough, the smoking black smokestacks that can be seen impetuously tens of kilometers from every corner of the coast were not enough, now the assault promises to be on a large scale. Two arms out to sea of unprecedented wind turbines. One direction Nora, the other Capo Spartivento. On the one hand Pula, on the other Villasimius. Let me be clear: project never presented in any public office. The reason is simple: he trusts in the extraordinary procedure announced by the "Minister of wind occupation of Sardinia" who put pen to paper a hypothesis of an administrative process that annihilates any possible confrontation and, above all, with the excuse of the NRP and of the times imposed from above, it authorizes any invasion on Sardinian land and sea.
From steel to blades
In reality, however, the project is written, outlined in every detail. The presentation took place in the "camera caritatis", in dim light, sometimes in the presence, others in connection overseas. When the neocolonialists of the Sardinian sea show up they use the xenophilic high-resonance that is so chic in the world of high finance: "We are Falck Renewables and BlueFloat Energy". In practice, the former are the "green" heirs of one of the "heaviest" steel activities ever, the production of steel, the others, those of the blue float, are Spanish from Madrid and define themselves as pioneers of offshore wind. Falck, dressed in green, is none other than the glorious Falck Group of Sesto San Giovanni, in the current suburb of Milan. From 1906 to 1995 he flooded the world with pure steel, first with Giorgio Enrico Falck's Società Anonima Acciaierie e Ferriere Lombarde and then with “Falck” full stop, until the collapse of the sector in the mid-90s. The last furnaces closed in 1995, since then the successor to steel has only been one, that of the big business of renewables. For some years now, the agreement with BlueFloat Energy, an international developer on the floating offshore, has been strategic in Italy and beyond. The future mission is declared: to flood the Sardinian sea, and beyond, with wind turbines. They have not thought of the Tuscan or Ligurian coast, not even the wind that blows grazing on Lake Como, or on the peaks of the Lepontine Alps.
Do it in Sardinia
From Rome they suggested he focus on Sardinia, the Sardinian sea to be exact. There, they explained to him, we will place a large part of the environmental and landscape "weight" of renewables in Italy to then transport that energy produced in the "Sardinian-energy colony" directly to the Continent, through a cable that it will "expropriate", without blow to wound, the Sardinia of wind and sun energy. There is no other explanation for the decision not to even face the procedure, still required by law, that of Environmental Impact Assessment, based on the former Ministry of the Environment. Anything. In that department, in the administrative structures, there is no trace. The Falcks are well aware of how politics and the buildings of power work. The Minister has guaranteed a decree for Sardinia, provided for by law but never passed, in which the island as commissioner in all respects. It is there that the wind invasion clause will be peremptory: all renewable energy projects on the Isola dei Nuraghi are of public interest and, therefore, are approved by an act of Rome. Too bad that there will be nothing of public interest, if anything it will be a rich and copious foraging, complete with billionaire incentives, paid by the increasingly expensive electricity bills of the Sardinians, and destined for an infinite forest of gigantic wind turbines on land and at sea, with endless paving of photovoltaic panels to be spread on the agricultural lands of Sardinia.
The secret plan
The plan we are in possession of is divided into a single project, with two wind farms that radiate from the Saras docking to reach one side of Pula and the other that of Villasimius. Nobody explained to him that on the via di S.Efisio, a candidate for Unesco site, the one on land and the one on the sea, there is an environmental and landscape heritage that in the "unacknowledged" ambitions they would like to restore to full tourist enjoyment, valuing the true vocation of this land. And, instead, the powerful owners of the steel mills of the past would like to occupy that stretch of sea with a forest of gigantic wind turbines, not only with an impact on the panoramic view towards the island, but on the very safe usability of the waters. It does not matter if we are talking about twenty or thirty kilometers from the shore, still visible and impacting, but also on the navigation of that stretch of sea.
Nora 1 and 2
The two projects do not have, as mentioned, original names: Nora Energia 1 and Nora Energia 2. The first, the one on the Pula side, is the more impressive of the two: 53 gigantic blades with 795 megawatts of installed capacity, with a production of electricity which is calculated equal to that consumed by 700,000 households. The second, the one that points from Sarroch towards the Capo Carbonara side, has 40 wind turbines and declares an installed capacity of 600 megawatts, equal to the consumption of 500,000 users. The planned wind turbines are among the most invasive and powerful ever, with each generating capacity of 14 megawatts. To understand the usefulness, or rather the uselessness, of this plant for Sardinia, a simple comparison is enough. In total, on the Gulf of Angels, Falck and the Spaniards expect to generate 1,395 megawatts with those 93 wind turbines. In practice, the same energy generated overall by the Enel power plant in Portovesme together with that of Fiumesanto in Portotorres, or, to compare them on the wind level, equal to the same electrical power of 1,500 megawatts produced by all the wind turbines installed up to now throughout the Sardinia. Anyone would understand: that energy is of no use to the Island. It will be generated on the Sardinian sea, disfiguring the coast and its use, to then be transferred directly to the rest of Italy through the Tyrrhenian Link, that cable-leash that Terna is about to build to transport all that renewable energy produced in Sardinia directly on the Continent. The Island loses everything, the wind, the sun, the landscape and environmental devastation, even the stratospheric cost of electricity bills, being the only region in Italy and Europe without methane, and the Continent, on the other hand, takes it all, transforming the land of the Nuraghi into a great energy colony of Italy. The plan runs concealed, secretly presented to trade unions and economic operators, complete with subliminal tales: jobs and development.
No benefit
For Sardinia, it is clear, however, that there will be no benefit, neither employment nor in terms of development. After all, the only possibility of using all that renewable energy directly on the island is only one: transforming it into “green hydrogen”, which can be accumulated and actually used in a production process. Here, however, we know, neither Saras nor the affairs of Rome should be disturbed. The hydrogen poles are being planned in Puglia and Sicily, despite the fact that Sardinia, already twenty years ago, planned the Hydrogen Island with the Nobel Prize winner Carlo Rubbia. Falck and company, however, are not original even in the Gulf of Angels invasion project. Ten years ago "Trevi Energy" tried it exactly. The plan of the Emilians started from Giorgino with thirty-three towers overlooking the sea, each 120 meters high. Nothing came of it, the Port Authority put down its opinion on paper: the offshore wind power plant is not compatible with the navigability of the sea and its safety. Project rejected, without appeal. For the rest, Sant'Efisio and the auditors took care of it: in July 2020, Trevi Energy started the dissolution and liquidation procedures. In the Gulf of Angels it will not be easy to pass, despite Cingolani and the powerful on duty.
