The promoter Blue Viking Julia, from the European Energy group, plans to build a solar park in the municipality of Avinyó (Bages). However, to evacuate the energy, a 7.5-kilometre high-voltage line must be built that would cross the neighboring municipality of Sallent. The City Council en bloc opposes its authorization for environmental reasons, as it passes through a special protection area in more than 40% of the projected route, but also “because it does not provide any benefit to the municipality.” “In addition to the visual impact that 30-meter towers will generate and the fact that it limits the future growth of the municipality,” says the mayor, Oriol Ribalta. The project is in the initial phase of allegations and both the City Council and the residents will present.
The project envisages the construction of a 20.52 MW photovoltaic plant with more than 35,000 panels located on an area of ??just over 25 hectares of undeveloped land in the area of ??Avinyó. To evacuate the energy to the La Rampinya substation (Sallent), the project envisages building a 25 kW high voltage overhead line with a 7.5 kilometer route through the municipality of Sallent.
The mayor of Sallent, Oriol Ribalta, has explained that they are “frontally” opposed to the project from the beginning “because no alternatives have been proposed to us.” Precisely, one of the counterproposals of the consistory that will be presented in the allegations is to modify the route of the evacuation line in the sense that it only passes through Avinyó, with a direct connection to the El Soler industrial estate. This would avoid going through Sallent, especially through specially protected natural areas, and would mean savings when it comes to building 5 kilometers of power line.
The head of the opposition, Guillem Cabra of the CUP, warns that the battle against the project is just beginning. “Now the City Council has made it public, but it has been being processed for two years,” he criticizes. And in this line he points out that it is necessary for the municipality to know that they are about to “carve” the territory. “Seven and a half kilometers from Sallent will be affected by a 12-meter ski slope,” he laments.
Cabra also criticizes that this project joins the other macro park that ICL is planning on the Sallent salt dump. “Sallent is starting to be threatened and we are starting to see how our natural ecosystem is in conflict with private profit,” he says. In fact, for the councilor, it is necessary to “continue fighting” for public energy planning against climate change, “but that in no case what you do is only benefit companies.”
Esteve Padullés is a neighbor of Sallent and is critical of the country model involving solar parks like the one that is being built in Avignon. “How is it possible that a clearly industrial activity can be carried out in an agricultural place? Why don’t they do it on the roofs, on the shoulders of the highways or on the beaches? Well, because doing it here is cheaper,” he explains. . In addition, he adds that these types of projects attack the peasantry model of the territory because peasants need land to be able to work. “With this project we don’t gain anything and we lose everything,” laments Padullés.
The neighbor also emphasizes that it is not necessary to be “deluded” to see that we live in an “energy-ion” society. “Every day we need more,” he says. And he doubts that the energy that will be mobilized with the new plant is “clean” energy. “Not that it shouldn’t be done, but not with an 18th century system,” he notes.