Photovoltaic panels in agricultural lands, some say no: "Sardinia is not an energy colony"
Entrepreneur Agnese Cabigliera recounts the phone call she received from the representative of a company proposing a "green" business: "The transition must be managed, not suffered"
Some say no. "Sardinia must not become anyone's energy colony". Agnese Cabigliera has a cheese production company (Cabigliera and Zidda) in Ozieri . To describe his activity he uses direct terms: « Tradition, biodiversity, happy grazing animals and a lot of passion for our work».
And he didn't mince words even to describe the telephone conversation with the representative of a company operating in the renewable energy sector. You, like many entrepreneurs from the Sardinian countryside, received a call with a proposal that, for some, cannot be refused: to make land available to install the most varied plants. From wind power to photovoltaics and agrivoltaics. With speeches littered with "green" and "energy". Not a bad thing in itself. On the contrary. But there is a big problem.
«In a nutshell, the gentleman offered me a chat for a possible collaboration for the installation of photovoltaic panels on the ground, on agricultural land», explains Cabigliera. His response, he says, was dry and firm. “I'm sorry for you, but you contacted the wrong person. As far as I'm concerned, Sardinia must not become anyone's energy colony».
The entrepreneur tells of an interlocutor "displaced, who tried to grab straws".
The questions that Cabigliera asks himself «are always the same. Do we really want to transform our island into an expanse of photovoltaic panels and wind turbines? If it is true that Sardinia aspires to become a tourist destination for 12 months a year», he reflects, «who would want to spend their holidays in a place where nature has been scarred? What wealth will we leave to our children if we use entire portions of the territory to produce energy? Why not take advantage of the existing structures and facilitate investments also in inhabited centres, where the roofs of the buildings could house the photovoltaic panels?».
The parallel with the "industrial dream" is fitting: many believed in it in the 1970s, abandoning farms. «What has changed today?» asks the entrepreneur.
His is not an a priori "no". There is a reasoning behind it: «Complex processes, such as in this case, that of the energy transition, must be studied, investigated, regulated, and managed, not suffered, in the interest of the community and not for the temporary benefit of the individual». Many agree to sell their land in exchange for the promised tips, while the energy giants grind millionaire incentives. «Sardinia has always been exploited by those who thought that everything could be done here, without asking anyone's permission, now they ask us for permission, and are we really willing to accept it for a handful of money?», is the question, rhetoric, final. "My answer is no".
(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)
