“The wind farms give us the opportunity to generate tax revenue and help our towns to have services,” explains Fernando Safont, mayor of La Iglesuela del Cid (398 inhabitants) and president of the Maestrazgo region (Teruel), when presenting his favorable position towards wind farms. “We have been fighting for them for 7 years,” he says. He is referring to the recent decision of the Spanish government to grant authorization for the construction of the Maestrazgo Cluster, a complex with 20 wind farms and 125 wind turbines promoted by the company Forestalia, aimed at transforming the landscape of the Maestrazgo region (Teruel).
Safont sees no inconvenience in the landscape visually transforming with wind turbines over 200 meters high. “We already have an impact on the landscape. From the window of my house, I can already see the windmills in Castellón, and those municipalities are receiving compensation from the company and I am not. There can't be first and second-class towns!” adds Safont, who is also the president of the High Winds association, which gathers the municipalities in favor of the wind farms.
The Maestrazgo Cluster, considered the largest wind energy project in Spain (763 MW), has overcome major hurdles, especially the environmental assessment by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition. Equipped with turbines of up to 6.1 MW of power, it will generate electricity equivalent to the consumption of 570,000 households per year and is expected to come into operation by the end of 2026.
As with other areas in Spain, windmills will be the symbol that crowns the silhouette of the mountains in the depopulated regions here, although the project is rejected by environmental groups and various political parties (Sumar, Podemos, Teruel Existe, Green Alliance) that denounce the planned logging, the impact of power lines, and the loss of habitats of community interest (Natura Network).
Environmental assessment passed
The Maestrazgo Cluster (763 MW), the largest macro-park project in Spain, has overcome major obstacles, especially the environmental assessment by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition. (Note: No period at the end of the sentence)
Endowed with machines of up to 6.1 MW of power, the complex will have towers up to 161 meters high, which, combined with the blades, will make the wind turbines over 200 meters in total height.
Its 125 wind turbines will produce the electricity equivalent to the average consumption of 570,000 households per year, and is expected to start operating in the third quarter of 2026.
Two parks and 36 wind turbines have been removed
The Ministry for Ecological Transition views the plan favorably, citing, among other reasons, that “the parts of the project that did not meet environmental viability criteria have been eliminated.”
In the environmental impact statement, 36 wind turbines out of the initially planned 161 have been excluded, as well as 2 wind farms out of the 22 proposed, all in order to protect the special protection area for birds (Zepa del Rio Guadalope). And, “in application of a precautionary principle, 4 wind turbines have been excluded to protect the Egyptian vulture,” highlights the Ministry.
The approved environmental green light also establishes prevention measures for the conservation of birds (griffon vulture, pallid harrier, booted eagle, peregrine falcon, golden eagle...) and bats. These include “stop and start protocols,” as well as the installation of automatic anti-collision devices and artificial intelligence to detect larger birds, stop the wind turbine, and prevent damage. Additionally, a monitoring and follow-up program will be implemented during the first five years to verify the effectiveness of the measures.
The debate about the impact on the bearded vulture
The Ministry argues that, according to the environmental impact statement, the project will not affect the bearded vulture, an endangered species, as it is claimed that they move to the north of the Cid V wind farm, which has been “excluded”.
However, these explanations do not convince the president of the Foundation for the Conservation of the Lammergeier (FCQ), Gerardo Báguena. “The project invades the entire potential area for the reintroduction of the Lammergeier, eliminating an extraordinary space to recover one of the most threatened species in Europe.” This Foundation (which has already reintroduced the species in Castellón) has decided to suspend a program to reintroduce the animal in the Maestrazgo due to the “unacceptable risk of collision and death of these animals” caused by the wind turbines.
The Foundation (which has already carried out a reintroduction of this species in Castellón) decided last year to suspend a reintroduction program of this animal in Maestrazgo (Teruel) due to “the unacceptable risk of collision and death of these animals” caused by the planned windmills.
And now Báguena reinforces his arguments based on the recent discovery at the foot of a windmill of the carcass of the only radio-tracked bearded vulture. The animal was found in the Maestrazgo region of Teruel (in Luco de Bordón), 40 meters from the wind turbine (but already part of a wind farm in the province of Castellón).
A report from the General Directorate of Natural Environment of the Government of Aragón already warned about the presence of this threatened species in the surroundings of the future large park.
The Platform in favor of the Landscapes of Teruel presents a lawsuit
“The windmills will not be within the ZEPAs, but it is planned to place them so close that it cannot be considered that they will not have an impact,” says Javier Oquendo, spokesperson for the Platform in favor of the Landscapes of Teruel. This group has filed an administrative appeal requesting the temporary suspension of the entire project."
“There are wind farms that are barely two kilometers away from the bird protected area, others are surrounding it (as is the case with the ZEPA of the Guadalope River), or are affecting two other ZEPAs. Moreover, there are 84 windmills located in areas that are habitats of community interest,” Oquendo adds.
The spokesperson of this citizen platform is convinced that reducing the number of 35 wind turbines will not diminish the visual impact because “the power of the park remains almost the same: they remove mills and install others that are more powerful,” he adds.
The Maestrazgo borders the province of Castellón
Approximately 98,000 trees will be cut down, says the company
At the same time, the controversy over deforestation accompanies the project. Javier Prados, director of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), the entity financing the plan, points out that around 140 hectares of forests will be occupied, which is equivalent to about 140 blocks of the Eixample district in Barcelona (comprising conifers and deciduous trees). He has estimated that approximately 98,000 trees will be felled, in response to figures circulated by opponents (who have claimed a logging of 2 million feet, citing anonymous sources from a company in charge of this task).
The company will take on the required compensation plan for reforestation and will replant “a far greater number of trees than those removed”.
The environmental impact statement does not specify how many trees will need to be uprooted, but it does indicate that the replanting of vegetation must be done “with the same composition, proportion, and density” in order to restore the pre-existing surface of the affected habitats of community interest (heather and endemic black pine forests).
Likewise, he points out that the impact on the Maestrazgo UNESCO Geopark will be “only 0.19%; it will not undergo a significant alteration,” stated the CIP director in Spain.
The mayor hopes that at least depopulation will be slowed down
Mayor Safont acknowledges that there may be impacts on birds, but “you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs,” he says, dismissing the idea that parks should not be built because of birds as unjustifiable. “But if things are done right, there is no need for destruction to occur,” he argues.
In your opinion, the possibility of generating income for these towns (through property tax, economic activities) is at stake, which is essential to prevent the ongoing demographic decline. There are towns that don't even have health centers, bars, or pharmacies.
“With the new services that we can provide, we are not going to reverse the demographic situation, but at least the population will stabilize. Providing employment for three families is already a lot,” he explains. The largest town in the region, Cantavieja, has 700 inhabitants and there are some others that don't even have a hundred people.
“The municipalities support the park. The project involves around 400 million euros in local taxes over its entire lifespan, including various fees,” argues Prados.
Unify the lines
The promoting company, as well as the Ministry, also emphasize that all the energy generated by the project will be evacuated through a single line. And only a Zepa area of 10 kilometers will be affected, with a power line that will replace the existing one. Therefore, the project does not involve an increase in power lines in the Zepa area, but rather the “replacement of an existing line with a new one that will have the most advanced measures of protection for birds, reducing the risk of collision,” the company adds.
Resistance to the high voltage power line in towns of Castellón
Another focus of opposition to the project comes from the citizen platform STOP to the MAT in Castellón, promoted by many of the neighbors and property owners affected by the route of the power line that must carry electricity to Morella, passing through the municipalities of Portell, Cinc Torres, and Morella. “We live in a farmhouse that is inhabited (Fraixemeno, from the 14th century), and they want to place the tower 50 meters from the house,” laments Miguel Ángel Troncho, convinced that the proximity of the line will have “harmful effects on health,” reduce the economic value of the land, and result in losses of agricultural and livestock productivity. He also complains that the one-time compensation proposed by the company (CIP) as a counterpart to the occupation of the land to build the high-voltage towers (1,000 euros) and the flight of the cables are “ridiculous amounts.”
