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Wind power is not just another technology
Wind turbines installed at the Muniesa wind farm.
Wind power is not just another technology. In Spain, we are fortunate to have a natural and infinite resource: the wind, which generates a quarter of the electricity we consume. Currently, wind power is the primary technology in our energy matrix. Wind farms are present in nearly all autonomous communities, installed in rural areas that benefit from the generated income, job creation, improved infrastructure, and overall development.
Weeks ago, I participated in a conference on the social acceptance of renewable projects. Around 100 people gathered in a central hall in Madrid. I conducted a quick poll: I asked those living in rural areas to raise their hands. Only eight of those gathered to discuss the acceptability of renewable projects claimed to live in rural environments. Unfortunately, this is often the case. Who are the ones most vocal in arguing against renewables?
Wind farms in rural areas: Yes or no?
We saw the following article published in regional media: “The local leaders of Campoo de Yuso have reported threats due to their support for wind farms. They feel harassed by groups opposing the parks, whom they describe as ‘placard-wavers’ who aren’t even from our villages.” And a mayoress in Aragon wrote in a local newspaper: “Why do we want a wind farm in our municipality? The park is welcome if it can enhance our municipal services and infrastructure, or if we can provide better quality care for children and the elderly.”
This is the contradiction we are facing. There are villages that want wind farms installed because they recognise the positive impact for their residents and have their consensus. Why should they feel threatened by those opposed to renewables?
Faced with the naïve arguments of some anti-renewable platforms, who claim they do not want to produce electricity in their environment that will not be consumed by them, we should ask: where do they think the electricity they are currently using is produced? Lack of information is the most dangerous threat. Therefore, it is crucial to communicate, disseminate, inform, cooperate, and allow the residents, the main stakeholders in coexisting with wind energy, to decide whether they want wind energy in their areas.
Integrating wind power into rural Spanish life
Villages that have wind farms in their surroundings have moved past debates still ongoing in areas without wind farms. Residents who have lived alongside wind turbines for years walk the paths around these installations, having integrated them into their landscapes and harmonised the land use with agriculture or livestock farming. They recognise the benefits of having a wind farm in their fields and hope that the wind farm will continue operating for many more years. And it’s not just about the wind farms; we’re also talking about the more than 250 factories across Spain that specialise in producing wind turbines.
In our country, we manufacture every single part that makes up a wind turbine. Wind power involves the production of electricity, the manufacture of wind turbines, and an entire sector dedicated to their operation and maintenance. Is the operator of a large crane that lifts the wind turbine also considered part of the wind energy sector? Absolutely, just like the professional who predicts the wind for a specific wind farm, the one who monitors the condition of the machinery with a drone, and all the more than 40,000 professionals in Spain who dedicate their day-to-day to wind energy.
Villages that have wind farms in their surroundings have moved past debates still ongoing in areas without wind farms.
Spain is the second largest European market in terms of total sales volume of wind turbines (behind Germany), and the world’s fifth largest exporter of wind turbines. The average power of the wind turbines currently exported is 5.5 MW. The increase in average power over the past five years has been 57%. This positions us as a competitive industrial sector and a global benchmark. Due to this complete value chain established in the country, wind power is not just another technology.
Integration of wind energy into a rural landscape.
The term “Empty Spain” can be transformed into “Hopeful Spain,” as the mayor of Hornillos de Cerrato, a small municipality in Palencia with seven wind farms, recently mentioned when discussing what wind power has meant for his town. Let the protagonists of the energy transition decide on their future and whether they want wind farms, development, and progress.
Piluca Núñez
Director of Communication and Institutional Relations at the Spanish Wind Energy Association (AEE)