Pan di Zucchero, wind assault on Porto Flavia
Seventy-seven blades, over 300 meters long, to be placed in front of the Masua stack and the mining monuments of Iglesias
Per restare aggiornato entra nel nostro canale Whatsapp
Just one glance at that enchanted stage was enough for him. He, Cesare Vecelli, son of the Royal School of Application of Turin, was not simply a mining engineer. The “holy scriptures” of the great lead-zinc epic of the Iglesiente note him as “sensitive” to the living conditions of the miners and to the environment that surrounds them.
Rare virtue
A rare virtue in the years when mining companies were foreign and voracious, ready to endlessly empty the "geological somersaults" of the oldest land, that between Buggerru and Iglesias, from Planu Sartu to Monte Nai, in the Iglesias hamlet of Masua. When he became aware of the harsh working conditions of the miners, the ordeal of excavation and transportation of the mineral, he did not give himself peace. The goal was to introduce into the extraction process a virtuous circuit of overlapping tunnels capable of "digging" inside the mountain a real mining port, the only one in the world. However, he needed a corner of that coast with a suitable seabed for the landing of the ships-ferries.
I bring inside the mountain
He didn't think twice: the solution was in front of that "sweet faraglione" that stood imposing and haughty in front of the inlet of Masua, the most mining-related of the villages of the ancient Villa Ecclesiae. Vecelli's plan was clear: exploit the Pan di Zucchero to stop the wind, using an extendable track to accompany the mineral on "railway" trolleys directly from the mountain to the ship's hold, without scarring that stretch of sea with ports, inlets, piers or jetties. Thus was born Porto Flavia, dedicated to the daughter of the great engineer who revolutionized mining transport and working conditions. Now, that brilliant intuition, an exclusive work of engineering-mining art, has become a monument with the holy chrisms of thousands of visitors every year.
Overlooking paradise
The reason is contained in six hundred meters of “adventure gallery”, to be traveled with helmet and carbide lamp, all inside the mountain, up to the “paradise” that suddenly appears like a “miracle” on the most exclusive view, right in front of the Pan di Zucchero stage. Faraglioni placed like a work of art in the middle of the horizon of the cobalt blue sea, on a coast as wild as it is mysterious, sealed by small and large inlets, mining monuments unique in the world, from the ancient Laveria Lamarmora to breathtaking views.
Oilmen of the wind
If you can, go and cleanse your eyes and soul, do it now, but don't waste time: on July 19, the Ministry of the Environment and the "Wind Devastation of Sardinia" closed the procedures for the examination of the first offshore wind farm presented in Sardinia. A project until recently owned by an anonymous and unknown company with a capital of ten thousand euros, "Ichnusa Wind srl". The bureaucratic journey of this corporate "contraption" in the Ministry passed from Cingolani to Pichetto Fratin was long and tortuous, until the entry into the field of the State Oil Company par excellence, Eni. Suddenly, the group, from marginal, became imposing, even with a foreign industrial partner, Copenhagen Offshore Partners.
Wind “Crime”
The project has accelerated in recent months, including the “secret” dispatch of a ministerial commissioner to the site of the future wind “crime”. The goal is to quickly approve a project for 42 blades, 300 meters high, to be placed right in front of the Pan di Zucchero near the island of Carloforte. A devastating project whose landing place should be in the eternally maligned Portoscuso, despite the total opposition of Enel, which sees that offshore project as a dangerous enemy for its business in Sulcis. The disaster, however, is not over.
The Danes of Vestas
The second project for that body of water is pushing for progress like never before: another 35 blades for another 525 megawatts of power. It was presented by yet another anonymous “srl”: Thalassa Wind. This time, it is backed by none other than the most powerful wind turbine manufacturer in the world, Vestas. A shareholder in the wind energy climb between Carloforte and Masua is “Wind Power Development”, with offices in the headquarters of the wind energy business in Denmark. They declare it without pretense: a company indirectly and entirely owned by “Vestas Wind System”, in short, from producer to consumer.
Wind war
All the Municipalities are against it, the fishing world and the historic “Tonnare” of Carloforte and Portoscuso are on the warpath, the world of tourism is on the shields. On this wild and mining coast, exclusive and fascinating, now looms a “wind wall” destined to devastate forever the future of this territory with yet another State outrage.
