Law on suitable areas: «Risk of speculation outside urban centers»

A new concern extends over law 20. After the political exemptions that will be able to transform the initially unsuitable areas into suitable areas (it seems like a play on words but it is the effect of the legislative text), here is the alarm on the rule that risks transforming energy communities. It is raised by Giovanni Cossu, the industrial engineer who supports the committees in the work of analysis and study on the speculative risks linked to the excessive creation of green parks. «A cumulative effect – explains the expert – that determines irreversible damage to the ecosystem». Starting from land consumption, on which ISPRA, the National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, has already opened a “Sardinia case”, where «per capita values triple the national average» are recorded.

The device

You have to go to Annex G to find the last casus belli . The topic is the "technical requirements for type of plant". The side is that of agrivoltaics, that is, the authorization in the countryside, in the so-called E zones, of parks that exploit solar energy. "Allowing more agricultural entrepreneurs to dedicate themselves to business - underlines the engineer -, means allowing an industrial type of activity".

The contradiction

Not only that: «One of the elements that characterizes the CERs, the renewable energy communities, is their location in areas that are already waterproofed, where neither water nor humidity can pass, so there cannot be any use other than construction – continues Cossu -. But allowing green systems to be built in agricultural areas too means opening the way to new land consumption. And Sardinia certainly doesn't need it».

The numbers

The engineer's observations are in line with the latest blow to Sardinia through the Ispra 2024 report. Meanwhile: in recent years, land consumption has grown enormously on the island. Both in absolute numbers and per capita above all. And renewables also play a role. Per inhabitant, the share "eaten" by anthropic pressure is 2.92 square meters, almost three times as much as the national figure, which stands at 1.23 square meters. A truly unenviable record. In the transition from 2022 to 2023 alone, "in Sardinia land consumption stood at 0.57 percent, the highest value recorded in Italy".

Local data

The negative records also continue in municipal detail. Uta leads the national ranking of municipalities that have eroded the environmental heritage the most. Ravenna and Rome follow suit. "Uta - it is written in the Ispra report - has the highest annual increase, reaching 105.84 hectares". An enormity. The capital of Romagna has consumed 89, the Capital 71. "This data - continue the Ispra experts - appears to be in line with last year's trends, when Uta was already among the top three municipalities for extension of artificial surfaces in the period 2021-2022". For one reason only, written down in black and white: "The growth is largely attributable to the installation of ground-mounted photovoltaic systems, concentrated in the industrial area south of the town, but also to expansion works of the industrial area, including access roads and new buildings". Not even Porto Torres (36.86 hectares) and Olbia 31.85) stand out for land savings, again between 2022 and 2023. But Sassari, between 2021 and 2022, reached 54.27; Alghero, in the same period, 35.98; Assemini 28.88. "It goes without saying - concludes Cossu - that the energy overdose cannot be accepted by the Sardinians because the surplus is not transition but speculation".

Alexandra Card