The Ministry of the Environment and Ecological Transition has rejected the project for the installation of a 400-hectare agrivoltaic park between Olmedo and Sassari, proposed by Lightsource Renewable Energy Italy SPV 12 Srl. The negative opinion, by decree, came at the end of the Environmental Impact Assessment procedure started in May 2023.

The measure is clear-cut and accepts most of the objections raised by the bodies that were called to have their say. In short: in the area (and not only) there is an impressive accumulation of plant projects, some of the panels would have ended up close to watercourses and in the area there are numerous nuraghi and archaeological sites that must be preserved, like the landscape.

The project is called “Olmedo” and involved the construction of “an agrivoltaic plant called (precisely) “Olmedo” with a power of 132.126 MWp and an attached battery storage system with a power of 40 MW, including connection works to the RTN”.

The Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the provinces of Sassari and Nuoro had its say in August and " verified the current constraint framework of the area subject to intervention, highlighting that, as far as archaeological aspects are concerned, the territories of Olmedo and Sassari affected by the project present a very high concentration of archaeological sites". Furthermore, "a large part of the southern perimeter of the plant is articulated along the course of the river at a minimum distance of about 130 meters and a maximum of 430 meters, such that the plant is located within an area delimited by the elbow created by the Riu Su Mattone".

The plant also includes "part of the lake protection area, occupied by photovoltaic clusters. Both the photovoltaic clusters and the works connected to the perimeter of the plant are in total contrast with the Ppr regulations". For the Superintendency "the areas chosen for the construction of the works are not adequate from the point of view of the protection of cultural heritage and the landscape context, therefore it expresses an opinion contrary to the implementation of the interventions envisaged in the presented project".

The Forestry Corps also gave its opinion: the chosen areas "have the requirements of an area similar to a forest, as they are Mediterranean scrub at various stages of development". The Region then wrote: " The areas affected by the plant are partly subject to landscape restrictions" and some "are not suitable for
installation of systems powered by renewable energy sources. Furthermore, the system would not be compliant with the technical implementation standards of the Ppr».

The Department of the Environment had underlined «the significant criticality generated by the planned plant with respect to the naturalistic components of the area. The high impact deriving from the extension of the plant and its concentration itself, would cause a strong alteration of the landscape context of reference which is also characterized by its territorial conformation».

The role of the Ministry, we read further in the rejection provision , "must tend to apply the principles" according to which "the "protection of the landscape" is aimed at recognizing, safeguarding and, where necessary, recovering the cultural values that it expresses. In this sense, the "conservation" that must be carried out for this tends, first of all, to the complete knowledge of the qualities and values of the landscape and on the basis of these to guarantee a coherent development of the territory".

The project, again, "is located in a Sardinian area within which a plurality of proposals for new industrial plants have been added in recent times, the cumulative analysis of which has not been evaluated by the proponent who, in the environmental impact study cites the development of an intervisibility map where he declares to have considered the cumulative effect with the plants already in the authorization phase and/or authorized".

In this context, a further assessment by the Superintendency fits in: «The General Directorate of the Environment of the Region, in the note of 19 June, estimates that the occupation of the reference territory by photovoltaic or agrivoltaic systems amounts to approximately 4,411 hectares; such verification would presuppose a sudden and unprecedented conversion from an agricultural and pastoral use of the area to an industrial use, creating in a few years an irreversible impact on the environmental components of cultural heritage and landscape. Therefore, a loss of essential values, a substantial consumption of land and the marginalization of agricultural and pastoral production in favor of energy production would result».

A long series of negative judgments, then. Which leads to a decision: the Special Superintendency for the Pnrr, "for what is within its jurisdiction, expresses a negative technical opinion on the pronouncement of environmental compatibility for the project an agrivoltaic plant called "Olmedo". And the Mase complies: project rejected. There is room for an appeal to the TAR.

(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)

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