01 June 2023

Can renewable plants help prevent forest fires?

The prevention of forest fires is an urgent issue in Spain, and one element for their containment is renewable energy plants.

URLREPLACE

Enlace copiado

Because of its climatological characteristics, Spain is one of the European Union countries most affected by forest fires, so it has always been urgent to develop plans to prevent them and minimise their impact. But the situation is getting worse as a result of climate change.

2022 was the worst year in history with regard to the area affected by fires, worse even than 2012 which used to hold the record: Almost 278 thousand hectares (ha) were burned, an area that corresponds to almost the entire province of Álava. Unfortunately, the figures for 2023 do not allow us to be optimistic: Until April alone, almost 40,000 hectares were burned, more than double the area for the same period last year and almost double the average for the last 10 years.

Forest fires are increasingly devastating

The concept of a forest fire refers to a fire that spreads uncontrollably, especially in rural areas. It has a serious impact on the ecosystem, destroying flora and fauna and preventing the use of land for pasture or cultivation.

These fires are classified according to the extent of the burned land and the most devastating, occupying an area of 500 hectares or more, are the so-called Large Forest Fires (GIF in Spanish). In recent years, the number of these incidents has increased considerably and in 2022 alone there were 57 of them, according to data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition. The most severe was undoubtedly the one in the Sierra de la Culebra, in the province of Zamora, which devastated 26,702 ha.

Causes of forest fires

There are many causes behind forest fires. Even though people are usually ultimately responsible (96% of fires of known cause are started by humans, according to Greenpeace), there are many factors that influence the spread of these fires:

Climate change: Rising temperatures and drought create ideal conditions for fires to spread.
Rural depopulation: The lack of grazing and other agricultural activities in rural areas means that the land is not cared for and gets covered with bushes, a perfect fuel for fires.
An urban management of forests that does not take into account the real risk of forest fires and that is not designed to prevent or mitigate them.

The role of solar and wind farms in the prevention of forest fires

Solar and wind power plants are precisely at the opposite pole in this scenario. As they are renewable energy sources, they are one of the most dependable solutions in the fight against climate change. Their installation in rural areas also reactivates activity in the area, generating jobs and stopping the exodus to cities. In the same way, these installations are completely clean of bushes and stubble, minimising the risk of fires and helping to prevent them from spreading further.

"Where there is a wind farm, the surface is kept in perfect condition, making coexistence with other uses easier and its pathways are an excellent firewall to prevent fires in the area".

There is no doubt that these clean energy plants work as genuine firewalls that help prevent the spread of fires. In Spain there are numerous examples, such as the fire in Pucheruelo (Ávila) where the wind farm prevented the flames from reaching the neighbouring town of San Juan, and the fires in Barbanza, Corzán (A Coruña) and Couto de San Sebastián (Pontevedra) and most recently the evacuation line in the Coriscada wind farm, on the border between the provinces of A Coruña and Lugo, where a fire was prevented from reaching a rural nucleus because its advance was slowed by a street along the border which was completely clean.

The roadways, wind turbine platforms and power lines to transport electricity from wind farms act as effective firewalls. Here they need to undertake clearing, felling and pruning campaigns to comply with forest fire prevention laws.

In those sites which are surrounded by forest mass, perimeter belts of native leafy plants are planted that slow the advance of forest fires, protecting the installations and providing all the benefits associated with these species, as well as favouring landscape integration.

According to Juan Virgilio Márquez, General Manager of the Wind Energy Business Association (AEE in Spanish), "where there is a wind farm, the surface is kept clear, making coexistence easier with other uses such as agriculture and livestock and the pathways are the best firewall to prevent fires in the area."

The presence of workers in the wind farms is also a guarantee that if a fire is discovered the alarm will be raised, functioning as an active aid and alert system in the prevention of fires.

Fire prevention measures in the electricity grid

There are other installations that are a key factor in wildfire prevention: The power lines. The forest mass that grows around the power lines is cleaned and cared for and there is thorough inspection of the entire installation to avoid possible incidents.

Our subsidiary for electrical networks, edistribución, manages lines in Catalonia, Andalusia, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Aragón and Badajoz that consist of almost 318,000 kilometres, the equivalent of circling the Earth eight times. That is why the network is constantly and regularly subjected to monitoring and maintenance:

The selective felling and pruning of the forest mass enables the creation of corridors that function as natural firebreaks.
Thermographic inspections undertaken from helicopters and at the foot of the line with an infrared camera enable control of the cables and the detection of any points where there may be a risk of overheating.
Drones are also used to verify the width of the corridors and safety pathways below and at the side of the line that act as firewalls.