A hundred residents, environmentalists, and activists gathered this Sunday on les Barques beach, in L'Escala, to protest against the offshore wind farm project planned for the Gulf of Roses. The action, conceived as a performance, was organized by the platform No al Plemcat with the aim of visualizing social rejection of the installation.
Rejection of the offshore wind farm in the Gulf of Roses
The protest has gathered participants opposed to the wind deployment in this stretch of the Alt Empordà coast, at a time when the Generalitat is accelerating studies linked to the Plemcat pilot test. That plan contemplates three floating wind turbines as an initial phase of a project that has generated opposition among part of the territory.
"The implementation of the project responds to the interests of a few energy companies; we defend an alternative, decentralized model that takes advantage of already anthropized areas" - Marià de Delàs, member of No al Plemcat
From the platform, they maintain that the mobilization seeks to maintain public pressure against an initiative they consider harmful to the environment and to the territorial model. Marta Ball llosera, also a member of the collective, has pointed out that the action aims to show, once again, the opposition to the project.
The only point of Catalonia authorized by the State
The Gulf of Roses is, as of today, the only point in Catalonia where the State has authorized the possible installation of offshore wind farms. That possibility remained open after the approval of the POEMs at the beginning of 2023. The affected area covers 250 square kilometers and is located at a minimum distance of 12 kilometers from the coast.
In the debate about the energy future of the area, the precedent of the Tramuntana project has also hovered, which proposed an energy production comparable to that of a nuclear power plant. Opponents also recall the planned dimension of the windmills, which according to Marià de Delàs would be superior to that of the Sagrada Família.
Impact on the interior territory
The opposition is not limited to the maritime front. Among the platform's arguments also figures the layout of the electrical evacuation infrastructures, which would cross agricultural areas up to the substation planned in Vilaür. That point concentrates another of the concerns of the mobilized groups, who demand a decentralized model and one far from large installations in spaces they consider already subjected to strong pressure.
The performance of L'Escala once again brings the debate to the street amidst the full acceleration of the Plemcat studies. The struggle between administrations, promoters, and platforms against the project remains open in an especially sensitive enclave of the Costa Brava, where the discussion combines energy transition, landscape impact, and defense of the territory.