The ministerial offices had defined it as "incomplete, confused, at times incoherent. Incongruent". And they had rejected it. Now the company Diomede Srl of Rome has filed an appeal with the TAR against the negative opinion of the Mase issued last November 7 on the project for a maxi photovoltaic plant in Serra Taccori, in the territory of Uta: over 130 thousand silicon panels on over 40 hectares of land.

The Legal Intervention Group has announced the challenge to the measure: «In addition to the shortcomings in the design and analysis of the territory», the association explains, «which emerged during the EIA procedure, the identified area is an example of the typical archaeological landscape of Sardinia». Thus, after the observations presented during the authorization process, the Grig announces that «it will also do its part before the TAR Sardinia for the defense of the rural archaeological landscape of the Sardinian territory concerned, which cannot and must not be subjected - like the rest of Italy - to an industrial energy monoculture that is clearly oversized compared to real needs».

Sifting through the immense mass of documents filed to formulate the negative assessment, one comes across heavy objections raised on the plant itself, on the risks for the landscape, but also on the cumulative impact: a short distance away, again in Uta, there is another immense expanse of panels. And the opinion of the ministerial technicians also looked at those: too many, Sardinia risks an invasion.

The project

The ministerial procedure went on for two years: the company had submitted the application on October 10, 2022. At first, the park should have had even more impact than the one that was rejected: the overall extension planned was 2,207,790 square meters. But after reading the first documents, a long sequence of negative opinions rained down, even from various offices of the Region. Among other things, the Department of Urban Planning had emphasized that part of the plant would fall in an unsuitable area due to archaeological interference. For what it was worth, this objection, together with others, had contributed to a rewriting of the plan.

So here are the new numbers, still gigantic: a surface of 41.09 hectares covered with 130,480 monocrystalline silicon modules, to reach a peak power of 92.6 MWp to be connected to the national electricity grid. Also planned is a storage station that, in the future, could be built with lithium batteries.

Diomede Srl had illustrated all the alleged benefits and the poor impact, with a planned decommissioning after 20 years of activity. There was also the hypothesis of continuing to cultivate under the panels. But at the Ministry they saw it in a diametrically opposite way.

The opinions

The Pniec-Pnrr technical commission, set up to deal with the gigantic amount of projects for renewables, had written: having assessed the documentation, it is «believed that the project has been described in a deficient and confused manner». There is a quarry near the plant that is not mentioned. The panels are «overlooking areas of natural recolonization». Again: «The documentation presented by the proponent does not accurately report the use of the land in existence, in the past and the intended use of the cadastral parcels on which the plant is located». Guaranteed crops? «The small distance between the rows of photovoltaic modules proposed, equal to 3.50 meters, would not allow the effective agricultural management of the land». Dimensional inconsistencies were also noted: according to the document presented, and the technical requirements, the extension of the plant goes from 110 hectares to just 102. Also noted was «the inconsistency between the perimeter surfaces and the information relating to them».

The commission "believes that the proponent has not adequately considered all the technological and location alternatives of the project". And this is just to stick to the general opinion: when we go into detail on soil studies, air quality or possible archaeological risks the judgments are even more scathing and precise.

The landscape

Then there is the opinion of the Ministry of Culture: «The visibility of the plant, characterized by a strong technological value, is inconsistent with the identity of the context, currently characterized by the sum of historical-testimonial anthropic elements and natural morphologies and oversoils». This would be cast. But we also read that the impact «appears significant from the nuragic complex of “Serra Taccori” and also from some panoramic points of view». Dozens of pages of criticisms follow. Which led the Mase to say no to the new photovoltaic in Uta. Now the decision goes to the TAR Sardinia.

Enrico Fresu

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