Maremma (Tuscany, Italy), illuminated mega-wind turbines in the peninsular site with best SQM ...?

[Valerio Ricciardi]

Warm greetings from Italy, this is my first ever post on this forum which, until now, I have only frequented as a reader.

I'm here to ask you for a little help regarding a significant local problem of light pollution risk, that involves a location in Italy that is otherwise among the best as regards dark sky.

Gianluca Masi, an astrophysicist who is very present in the media in Italy (he is very keen to give visibility to his Virtual Telescope Project, which in any case is a very well done initiative) and objectively really committed to defending the quality of the sky, has set up and launched a petition on Change .org which, at the time of writing, only exceeded 3,180 signatures.

THE LINK TO THE PETITION - - https://www.change.org/p/salviamo-il-cielo-più-stellato-d-italia-l-unico-rimasto-dall-pollution-luminoso

I SUMMARIZE THE NEWS FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW THE PLACE - A subsidiary of Wind, a large company that deals mainly with mobile telephony in Italy, intends to position 8 enormous three-blade wind farms (of unusual dimensions: 200 m high, 150 m in diameter rotors) for wind power production, in Maremma, the region of Tuscany much appreciated by the most refined tourism for the beauty of its landscape, its exceptional wines and the architectural beauty of its small and widespread historical centres. Exactly, in the municipality of Manciano; MONTAUTO locality, near and within a protected area for naturalistic values and characterized, for reasons in my opinion of poor anthropization and orography, by a particularly high SQM value - according to the continuously updated surveys, ABSOLUTELY the one with the lowest IL of the whole peninsula. In Italy there are better sites only in Sardinia, in the hinterland of the tourist resort of Cala Gonone, or in some depopulated areas of Gennargentu.

MY FIRST IMPRESSION - "Well, we have to free ourselves from fossil fuels, every renewable source is good, what's wrong with that? This is much better than a coal power plant... or let us be sold by Orano - ex AREVA - a nice "Generation III+ EPR" " (what happened in Okiluoto and still continues in Flamanville docet to those who have the technical expertise to understand it)

THE PERPLEXITIES OF SOME - I learned from friends of the GrAG (Amateur Astronomers' Group Galileo Galilei) that very strong local opposition to the project is growing, linked ONLY to the LOCATION of the facilities. And to risks that would be associated with induced IL problems. I think:  "Ah, yes, there is always a flashing red light at night to warn passing planes and helicopters, ...well, what could it be?"

SMALL INVESTIGATION - I try to contact a couple of friends who have a remote observation station in that municipality. Indeed, when analyzing the other wind farms already built around, something does not add up to expectations. In this case the plant seems to be truly "industrial" in size... Telephone the Mayor of Manciano. I learned from him that the Municipality, with a very bipartisan decision, turned to a renowned lawyer to prepare, just in time (the legal deadline was 6 September last year), some observations on the EIA (environmental impact assessment ) which was presented by the company... and which the Municipality found out about almost by chance. The Municipality of Manciano appears to have understood that, among the landscape, urban and naturalistic values of the area, which it obviously shares to a large extent with neighboring municipalities, there is also the peculiarity of a sky less subject to IL than elsewhere in the whole of Peninsular Italy.

Yes. Surprisingly, the Municipality of Manciano considers the much darker than average sky an asset to be preserved. Incredible.

After that I also spoke with Gianluca Masi, mentioned to me by the mayor, the astrophysicist and popularizer who then launched the petition, who - of course - is a party to the matter (he also has an observatory there... and is the promoter of the Virtual Telescope, which initially positioned elsewhere is now precisely in that location... so ok, let's say that a conflict of interest can be hypothesized in the abstract) but in a heartfelt but calm and rational way he doesn't argue with me like the usual romantic cat lady who doesn't want a kennel to be moved for strays from under a prominent equestrian monument... No, really not. His observations are timely, documented and not "ideological".

LET'S LEARN MORE - Yes, the risk is real, given what happens in other systems, where in fact it has been seen that not ONLY the red load clearance lights are installed, but there is a white flash light at the top of the support tower, and then the systems are normally lit with LED lights from the bottom upwards... so the IL would certainly be there, and in a place that - now - has remained, excluding a couple of points in Sardinia (one is in the hinterland near the famous tourist resort of Cala Gonone where I go SPECIFICALLY when I want to make deep observations...) the one as mentioned with the darkest sky in Italy.

THE CONCLUSIONS - even as a convinced supporter of alternative energies, and hostile in character to any NIMBY syndrome, I invite you to SIGN this petition because it is not the result of the usual inevitable local committee that opposes almost everything other than the simple maintenance of the status quo. In rural provinces, in fact, there is often hostility towards any innovation, even a round planter instead of an octagonal one in the village square... but the "RIGHT THERE??" This time it's all there, I admit it.

WHERE IT IS NOT POSSIBLE to avoid the installation (it depends a lot on the amount of money associated with it... which is often the true rationale of the operation, see Sicily where immense fields of wind turbines have been installed sadly at a standstill...) a pressure adequate by public opinion would at least allow us to negotiate the installation and management characteristics of the lights. For example, of the red lights at the top of the blades, only one must be lit intermittently, for the duration of a 30° arc as it passes the top of its orbit. THIS IS NORMALLY PRACTICALLY NEVER IMPLEMENTED.

I DON'T KNOW IF  Change.org is also known outside Italy, but I suspect so. To join a petition the procedure is very simple. You click on the link that goes to the opening page of the petition, read the text (there is both a concise explanation and a much more analytical and in-depth one), and if you agree, indicate your name, surname and email (your name and surname may be visible as a signatory, but if you don't like this you can also be anonymous) and then almost immediately you will receive a short email with a link to click. This obviously serves to verify that the signatures are all aware, of real and voluntary people (otherwise anyone could sign one hundred signatures using email addresses retrieved online or from their own address book). I am sincerely grateful to you for your patient attention, I know I have been long but I understand that the site in question may be unknown to most of you.

I'll post the link again

https://www.change.org/p/salviamo-il-cielo-più-stellato-d-italia-l-unico-rimasto-dall-inquinamento-luminoso

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Valerio Ricciardi
Correction of mistyping

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Valerio Ricciardi and welcome to SGL. 

First link says and I quote: “This petition isn't available. Either the URL is incorrect, it violated our Community Guidelines, or the starter removed it.“

Second link works and I have signed it.