The Galician company Greenalia maintains its development forecasts for the Gofio offshore wind farm with a budget increase of 21% over the 2022 plan and 23% compared to 2020 to the amount of 140,6 million euros. Of that figure, in the south of Gran Canaria, The impact on the local society of Castillo del Romeral will be practically zero except municipal taxes. Greenalia has planned to reduce the visual impact while waiting for it to be finally approved.
This wind farm has been questioned by the Government of the Canary Islands given that in July 2022 the General Directorate of Public Health then in the hands of the PSOE ruled: "an opinion study of the affected population that legitimizes the project is also considered a mandatory request. "The most appropriate means of communication are established with the affected population." None of this would have been done unless they had done an opinion study. The wind turbines to be used by Greenalia will be similar to the GWH 252 model from the manufacturer Goldwind, with a nominal unit power of 16 MW. They will have a hub height close to 146 meters mean sea level made up of 3 blades of approximately 123 meters, arranged at an angle of 120º between them.
Greenalia has slightly modified the original orientation of the wind turbines to cover a smaller area than would have been used if the original orientation proposed in January 2020 had been maintained. The total power of the Greenalia offshore wind farm in the south of Gran Canaria has been reduced from the original 50 MW, four wind turbines of 12.5 MW of unit power, to 48 MW, three wind turbines of 16 MW of unit power. The evacuation line, that is, understood as the electrical line that connects the wind turbine near the coast, with the San Bartolomé de Tirajana 220 kV substation of Red Eléctrica de España (REE) passing through the 66/220 transformation substation kV of the space will be changed.
The General Directorate of Public Health stated that "the cumulative impact on the landscape due to the number of wind turbines, together with the time of visual exposure to which the inhabitants of nearby areas will be subjected", concluding that "in the face of a strategic objective so beneficial for citizens such as obtaining clean energy, other side effects are not evaluated.
Literally, the Public Health allegation was: "the change that will occur in the landscape due to the number of wind turbines, with a cumulative impact, the minimum distance to the coast and the time of visual exposure to which the inhabitants of the Nearby areas, together with the potential loss of recreational and sporting value of coastal use, determine a significant level of impact on these facilities. Therefore, it is also considered mandatory. request an opinion study of the affected population that legitimizes the project and establishes the most appropriate means of communication with the affected population. Therefore, from the field of protecting people's health and quality of life, it is worrying that in the face of a strategic objective as beneficial for citizens as obtaining clean energy, other irreversible side effects on such a fragile coastline are not evaluated. visually and limited, with a potential loss of social and economic value.
