A group of journalists based in Brittany, where the Spanish industrialist is carrying out controversial wind projects, has revisited the way in which the giant in the renewable energy sector has established itself in Brazil and Mexico. Facts and testimonies reported do not play in his favor.
What do the Bay of Saint-Brieuc in France, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico or even Belo Monte in the heart of the Amazon forest have in common? The presence of the Spanish industrialist Iberdrola in controversial installations of wind turbines or hydroelectric dams.
The Breton cove is planned to rotate 62 wind turbines 207 meters high “ end of 2023 ”, according to the calendar unveiled last month by Ailes Marines, the French subsidiary of Iberdrola. The park, whose construction site is experiencing significant delays, could eventually supply electricity to 835,000 inhabitants, or 9% of Brittany’s electricity.
Number one in wind power
But the project, costing 2.4 billion euros, has met with local mistrust and resistance for years because of its environmental impact. He even managed to unite against him fishermen, who fear for the resources, and their best enemy, Sea Shepherd, who warns of the danger to biodiversity. In June 2021, a hydraulic oil leak was identified and described as ” significant by state authorities. It extended over nearly 16 km north of Erquy, a very popular fishing area, for its scallops in particular. The project is also the subject of several complaints before the European Commission and the French courts, in particular for concealment of favoritism in the awarding of the public contract. Finally, Iberdrola has sights on southern Brittany for a second offshore project.
Founded in 1992, with 36,000 employees, Iberdrola is the world leader in wind energy, and a bridgehead in solar and hydroelectricity. Virtually dead at the turn of the 2000s, the Spanish energy company is today one of the most listed companies in European financial markets. A “recovery” due to its emblematic CEO who felt the coal winds turn before anyone else and set the course for renewables. Ignacio Sanchez Galan is the most powerful and the most paid of the Iberian bosses. He is also accused of being involved in a case of espionage between large companies since June 2021.
” This company highlights its concern for the preservation of the environment, to build responsible, sustainable projects. It also claims to be inclusive in the process of setting up its works. We wanted to see what was behind these elements of communication, to know what was this company that is coming to us, so that Bretons and Bretons know to whom we are entrusting the reins of this kind of project. To do this, we took an interest in several of its emblematic so-called energy projects “green” in Latin America “Explains Gwenvaël Delanoë, co-founder of Splann, an association of journalists born in 2021 in Brittany, which specializes in environmental issues.
The Spanish manufacturer has been turning its blades in Mexico and its valves in Brazil for nearly fifteen years for the oldest. However, its establishment in these countries has been accompanied by a procession of both human and environmental damage, establishes the documentary work broadcast on Tuesday March 29 (“Iberdrola. When clean energy has dirty hands », freely accessible). The five chapters of the investigation do not contain any revelations, strictly speaking, nor establish Iberdrola’s direct responsibility in the facts reported. But this synthesis, notably through the update of testimonials of premises, offers an overall result that is not very favorable to the company’s image. The story highlights the prejudices surrounding the eruption of these iron mills or these dams.
In Mexico, many wind farms have been built over the past twenty years. Splann looked at two of them, on the windy isthmus of Tehuantepec in the infamous state of Oaxaca, where journalists and human rights defenders pay with their lives for their freedom of expression. “ Wind turbines are a sensitive subject in which disputes with peasants, accusations of land spoliation and corruption, armed militias, threats against journalists and assassinations of activists are intertwined. writes Splann, who “ recorded at least three cases of murders of local activists fighting either against wind projects or for better electricity prices, between 2013 and 2018 “. In Mexico, ” we documented a context that was bloody to say the least “, adds Gwenvaël Delanoe. ” Accusations of violations against Iberdrola have not been answered. »
“Ethnocidal action” in Belo Monte
The Venta II wind farm (98 wind turbines, 2007) is built on the migratory route the busiest in the world », according to an impact study prior to the project. Nearly 10,000 birds and bats would have died in a collision with a wind turbine in a single year, according to the (2011) World Bank figure cited by the survey. ” Chemicals (oils) released by engines are blown away and contaminate wells, lagoons and seas “, also quotes the article.
The consequences are even more salient in Brazil. For example, Iberdrola participated, through the Norte Energia consortium, in the construction of a dam in Belo Horizonte, inaugurated at the end of 2019. The power plant attached to it is the fourth most powerful in the world. Located on indigenous territory, the construction had been very strongly contested, as noted on the spot RFI repeatedly, and tainted with ” serious human rights violations recalls Splann. Thousands of people had been forcibly displaced, poorly compensated and destabilized in their traditional way of life.
In 2015, the federal authorities recognized the damage: “ The settlement of Belo Monte constitutes an ethnocidal action by the Brazilian State and the concessionaire Norte Energia, evidenced by the destruction of the social organization, customs, languages and traditions of the affected indigenous groups. ” In 2020, the federal justice of Altamira in turn recognized ” the likely impacts of Norte Energia on the way of life of indigenous peoples “.
” We realize that the practices of Iberdrola are ultimately not so different from those of the oil majors which we know have a lot of legal or ecological pans. We realize that it is not because we put wind turbines that everything is clean, far from it concludes Gwenvaël Delanoe. Iberdrola, via its Brazilian subsidiary Neoenergia, or the Norte Energia consortium commented at length on each of the three chapters devoted to Brazil, “ except on the issue of ethnocide regrets Splann. Contacted by RFI about this investigation by the Splann collective, the Iberdrola company did not respond.