The Platform for the Defence of the International Tagus Natural Park has raised concerns about the limited time available for public consultation on the revised Sophia solar power plant project.
The Platform for the Defence of the International Tagus Natural Park (PDPNTI) regrets that citizens only have 10 working days to express their opinions in the public consultation on the reformulated Sophia solar power plant project.
"We have only ten working days. Ten working days to read, understand and analyse lengthy and complex documents, a task that is practically impossible for citizens who also have to ensure their daily lives. Democratic participation cannot be a mere formality, in which the population is heard, but has so little time to form a well-founded opinion," the platform states in a press release sent today to the Lusa news agency.
Solar project reduced in size
The British multinational promoting the Sophia photovoltaic solar power plant – covering the municipalities of Fundão, Idanha-a-Nova and Penamacor, in Beira Baixa, Castelo Branco district – reduced the project's installed capacity by 34 percent in the reformulation it submitted to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) authority.
The new project proposal is open for public consultation until the 21st.
According to PDPNTI, although the solar power plant suffered a reduction of approximately 34 percent in its nominal power and 36 percent in the area of panels, the substation enclosure maintained its physical size and the same transformation capacity.
"If the project had been proportionally resized in all its components, it would be legitimate to question why the substation enclosure was not also reduced," they argue.
Questions over future expansion
The civic movement further emphasises that the project includes reserve positions for possible future connections and provides for reserve bays and marked interconnection points for future use and hybridisation, including wind power and photovoltaic expansions.
"The diagrams reveal that approximately 10 percent of the connection points are reserved for wind power and about 50 percent for future use. These characteristics raise questions about the effective scope of the redesign and the possibility of future expansions," they emphasise.
The platform emphasises that there may be a possibility of the project being split into smaller parts, and its compliance with the Legal Regime for Environmental Impact Assessment (RJAIA) needs clarification.
Environmental impact under discussion
"The project continues to be of a gigantic scale: 873,124 solar panels across approximately 250 hectares, which, if placed in a line, would connect Lisbon to Berlin over a distance of more than 2,000 km. A fenced area of approximately 1,177 hectares, a 400 kV overhead line approximately 21 kilometres long, and also a large battery energy storage system and a substation," they emphasise.
Furthermore, the platform stated that this version, currently under public consultation, still does not sufficiently assess the potential risk of environmental impacts on public health.
"Sophia 2.0 is an attempt to cover up a fundamental issue with a simple message: since the project has temporarily become smaller, we must accept it. The reduction is intended to reassure, but it does not answer the crucial question: are the serious impacts on the landscape, soils, water resources, nature, communities and local livelihoods suddenly acceptable simply because they are smaller than initially anticipated?" they question.
Citizens encouraged to participate
In this context, the civic movement calls for the participation of all citizens in the public consultation, making their voices heard on the issues at stake.
"It's not just about a solar power plant. It's about knowing who decides the future of our territory and what kind of land we want to leave to future generations," they argue.