Jannik Hoffman probably doesn't even know where Pabillonis is. He, Chief Financial Officer of Pacifico Energy Partners , a German multinational with the "bad habit" of expanding into foreign countries, has always frequented the upper echelons of high finance, starting with the "forbidden" ones of Goldman Sachs, the second largest investment bank in the world by turnover. Imagine if he has ever planted olive trees or laid out flowery meadows for bees destined to feast in the shade of Chinese silicon between agrivoltaic panels almost three meters high.

A German in Pabillonis

And yet, this gentleman, a German from Munich, has been the owner of a project for a few days, just approved by the Ministry of the Environment, to build a field of panels whose surface is larger than the entire town of Pabillonis. Eighty hectares in total, a plan of 86,000 panels, placed 2.80 meters from the ground, to create an agrivoltaic system where, according to what they declare, they will plant 100,000 olive trees. The story is a fairy tale, as befits those who have to make money in Sardinian land.

Trained bees

If you believe what they say, you will find yourself in a moment immersed in wonderland: a “super-intensive” olive grove complete with circling bees, probably “trained” in the torrid heat of Chinese panels, immersed in expanses of lush flower fields to produce rivers of “multi-flower” honey. All written and approved: a real license to “kill” a territory, as the Special Superintendency for the PNRR writes without preamble. A lightning-fast opinion, ignored by the Technical Commission, even evaded in the decree with which the resigning Director General of Environmental Assessments in recent days definitively approved the project of “Pacifico Lapislazzuli srl”, the company fiscally registered in Bolzano, linked with resources and managers to Pacifico Energy Partners of Munich, which aims to build the mega agrivoltaic esplanade on Sardinian soil.

The German Fairy Tale

The name of the project says it all: «Photovoltaic power plant “ Energy of Sardinian oil ”», power 52 megawatts, to be built with monocrystalline modules on single-axis trackers, which means we capture the sun from dawn to dusk. The “fairytale” plan of the Germans of Pabillonis leaves nothing to chance: « the entire surface will be protected by permanent grass and a flowery meadow for beekeeping ». In short, with the sound of little flowers and olive trees in a hedge, the German colonizers have convinced the National Commission of the “agro-beekeeping” spirit of the enterprise that declares an investment of almost 40 million euros, most of it to place the Chinese panels, those of Jinko Solar . That solar grid, suspended and rotating, placed on an expanse of 80 hectares, almost three meters above ground level, does not seem to exist for them: " the agricultural component of the project will include a super-intensive olive grove cultivated as a hedge and kept at the standard height for mechanized harvesting (between 2.2 and 2.5 meters) ". In short, the olive trees will always be lower than the solar panels. The solar oil guru even goes so far as to summarize: " To obtain a high yield per hectare, super-intensive olive groves are optimal for the association with electricity production" . Don't imagine a lot of work, there will be no room for anyone here, and they write: "the entirely mechanized processing minimizes the interactions between men and the electrical system in operation". Imagine the resulting economic devastation, an electrical competition that risks putting all the olive-growing companies in the area out of business, which certainly will not benefit from the electricity incentives granted in favor of "German" oil in Sardinia. The damage, however, will be even more serious for the landscape and the environment as a whole. The Special Superintendent of the PNRR writes it clearly: « the numerous requests presented for the construction of extensive renewable energy plants in the same territory, involve a real conversion of the territory itself, which from an exclusive agricultural use, is undergoing an industrial transformation with a widespread presence of photovoltaic, agrophotovoltaic and wind plants and which therefore foresees a scenario that in a few years will inevitably determine an environmental impact deriving from the substantial consumption of land, not excluding a marginalization of agricultural production compared to energy production ».

Industrial areas

An unprecedented scenario, with Sardinia and the lands of Medio Campidano transformed into industrial zones. There's more. The Special Superintendent denies the same provision with which the German project was approved: « Legislative Decree no. 199 of 2021 (the Draghi one, ed.) defines “suitable areas” as areas “… with a high potential to host the installation of electricity production plants from renewable sources, even in the event of the occurrence of certain technical-locational conditions”, conditions which, therefore, must also be verified and evaluated in this environmental impact assessment procedure ». The assessment of the number one of the Superintendency of the PNRR is written down in black and white: « in the opinion of the Undersigned, the area on which the plant in question stands does not present such potential to host the installation of electricity production plants from renewable sources ».

Omitted slamming

The final opinion of the Special Superintendent, completely omitted from the approval decree, is clear-cut : " the plant appears to be alien to the context in which it is located and a harbinger of degenerative processes which, therefore, cannot be considered consistent with the objectives of landscape protection and enhancement. The Superintendency, to the extent of its competence, expresses a technical investigative opinion contrary to the pronouncement of environmental compatibility of the project for a photovoltaic plant, called "Energy of Sardinian Oil ". The harshest judgment on behalf of the region is expressed by the Department of Urban Planning: « Always from the point of view of the preservation of the agricultural landscape, it is believed, however, that photovoltaic systems of this territorial extension, do not integrate well into the surrounding landscape, both in the construction and operation phases and contribute in a very significant way to accentuate the cumulative effect of co-visibility with other systems present, today and in the future, in the agricultural territory of reference, leading to a loss of the particle texture and therefore a change in the perception of the same for many years ». In short: they are destroying Sardinia and no one is doing anything to stop them. In the light of the facts, all the laws approved so far by the Regional Council on the matter have proven to be useless and harmful.

Mauro Pili

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