They Showed the Door to a Huge Investment of 1.2 Billion Euros: Castelo Branco Did Not Change Its Nature for Money

There is a huge budget of 1.2 billion euros on the table, but the mayor can say without hesitation, "We don't want it, take your project to another door." Beautiful Portugal is the embodiment of my dream country. When we remember what we experienced in the parallel universe, this is Alice in Wonderland.

In the most talked about energy crisis of recent days in the interior of Portugal, Danish renewable energy giant Eurowind Energy announced that it has completely shelved its huge investment plan in Castelo Branco.

The company aimed to install solar panels, wind turbines and giant battery storage parks on a huge land of approximately 1,000 hectares (the size of a small town). They had been negotiating with the municipality for years for this huge capacity of 500 megawatts in total. But there was no compromise.

"Serra da Gardunha is our shelter"

Mayor Leopoldo Rodrigues' attitude was quite clear from the beginning. He firmly opposed the spread of the project to both sides of the A23 motorway and especially to the foothills of Serra da Gardunha, which is the apple of his eye with its nature.

When the developer company gathered its plans and started knocking on the doors of other municipalities, it never backed down. The President's view on this issue summarizes a widely talked about fact in the field: "How many people in the region would this huge facility provide a permanent source of income? Almost none. Our concern is to bring jobs that will keep people here and create real employment. It is not about filling our mountains with panels and having a few people work as guards."

There is Objection to the Industrialization of Nature, Not to Renewable Energy

The truth is that those living in the interior of Portugal are not opposed to renewable energy or green transformation altogether. The real reaction; Thousands of hectares of natural, agricultural land and biodiversity were suddenly transformed into metal and glass fields.

Even today, Castelo Branco is the 6th region in the country that produces the most clean electricity with its wind and sun. However, when projects such as Lightsource BP's giant Sophia power plant, which received more than 12 thousand objections, piled up on each other, local people and municipalities began to say, "Wait a minute, we have no room to breathe."

Moreover, even the shares transferred by the government to municipalities and the environmental fund for each megawatt installed are no longer enough to convince local governments. Because there is no return of the lost natural tissue.

Eurowind Broke the Route to Neighboring Municipalities

The Danish company has not given up on its target of 1.2 billion euros. Backed by global funds such as Blackstone, Eurowind has been in close contact with other municipalities in the Beiras and Médio Tejo regions that are positive about the project. They continue to pay around 65 million euros to national operator REN to retain their grid connection rights, and plan to get the project off the ground at another point by 2030.

Recently, solar power plant installations had already slowed down across the country due to both property tax debates and environmental pressures. This clear stance of Castelo Branco was a very strong message showing that money cannot open every door and that the protection of nature is more valuable than billion-euro budgets.

Source: Natasha Donn / Expresso & Portugal Resident

Image: Eurowind Energy