Thousands of solar panels glint in the sun, but the prized farmland beneath lies barren. While the Italian island of Sardinia revels in a “renewable energy” boom, the long arm of organized crime risks sullying its clean-power ambitions.
Famed for its lush plains and emerald waters, but racked by poverty and unemployment, Sardinia has jumped at the chance to boost the economy by converting its long months of sunshine into energy.
It is not alone: Cities and towns across Italy are embracing hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, wind farms, solar panels, steam generators and biomass plants, due largely to generous state subsidies.
Photo: AFP
In Sardinia’s northwest, the crop from purple and golden fields of thistles and sunflowers is used to generate biomass energy, while on the rolling hills in the island’s center, towering white turbines spin gently in the breeze at Italy’s second-largest wind farm.
With joblessness among young people in the region at more than 50 percent, many hoped the state’s green incentives would not only breathe life into struggling family communities, but attract companies from other parts of Italy and foreign multinationals, which would create jobs.
The problem, according to countryside campaign groups, is that while the subsidies come out of taxpayer pockets, so far the region has seen little of the profits made by the energy firms — many of which are accused of making fraudulent claims for funds.
Sardinian prosecutor Mauro Mura warned last year of mafia infiltration in the sector, flagging up instances of facilities that had profited hugely from subsidies open exclusively to farmers, while “not producing any agricultural goods at all.”
On the outskirts of Narbolia, near the island’s western coast, one such plant sprawls across the town’s most fertile fields: More than 107,000 solar panels sit atop the roofs of about 1,600 greenhouses, in which the owners had promised to grow aloe plants.
However, with the sunlight shut out by the panels, nothing grows there but weeds, while the Chinese company that runs the plant is pocketing profits from 20 years of subsidies and the sale of its energy to Italian giant Enel, Porcedda said.
“Instead the money leaves the country; it’s not reinvested here. And the 60 jobs we were promised? Four people are employed here,” he added, blaming not the multinational, but Italian authorities for turning a blind eye to the situation.
The potential for investment — and corruption — is great. The EU’s law enforcement agency Europol flagged up concerns in 2013 that “the Italian mafia is investing more and more in renewable energy.”
The Italian government was forced to reduce subsidies last year in the hope of slashing electricity prices, after households found themselves paying 94 euros (US$100) a year on top of their bills to support “green” energy generation.
Incentives for photovoltaic plants were slashed by between 6 and 25 percent.
While the roll-back might curb the interest of future investors, it will do little to challenge the problems already in the system.
Some locals have taken it upon themselves to block controversial projects. Biologist Manuela Pintus was elected mayor of nearby Arborea this year on a platform to prevent the drilling of an exploratory well for natural gas next to a reserve for protected pelicans.
“Our supporters received threats from those who wanted the well, who said: ‘We’ll destroy everything you have if you vote for Manuela,’” Pintus said.
“It didn’t stop us. We have local mothers and grandparents behind us, and will continue the fight to protect our land for future generations,” she said.
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