GironaBetween Serinyà and Besalú, on the hill of Ca n’Hortós, on an extension of fields and forests, an energy developer wants to build a large biogas plant. It would occupy 9 hectares and would serve to transform around 150,000 tons of polluting organic waste from the area’s cattle ranches into energy suitable for consumption. The Serinyà City Council is in favor of it and, in order for the plan to go ahead, it has changed the classification of the land, which until now was land that could not be developed. The project is on public display, open to allegations and awaiting reports from the Generalitat.
The scenario of this new energy industry, which would cost 20 million euros, has caused a lot of discomfort among naturalist entities and neighborhood associations of the Plan de l’Estany, which, united under the STOP Biogas Plant Platform, have presented a list of objections to the resolution of the council and have collected more than a thousand signatures. At the outset, they consider that the planned location causes a “serious” environmental impact, as it is located in the Ser river valley, very close to streams that flow into the Fluvià, and close to the Area of Natural Interest de la Miana, where protected and vulnerable species live such as some cruciferous grasses, riparian trees or cypriniform fish.
This is why ecologists and residents criticize that the City Council’s plan does not take into account other alternative locations with less impact: “They are justifying it at this point because they have planned a plant with open pipes and, therefore, “it has to be done at a great distance from the urban core”, argues Júlia Gené, spokesperson for the Naturalist Association of Girona. “On the other hand – he continues – if they made a closed circuit, it could be installed near the consumption points, in already altered areas such as industrial estates and with better road connections”.
To try to change the opinion of the detractors, the City Council organized a round table this week that generated a lot of excitement – and also protests at the entrance. The promoter company, Crinatur Energy, has participated, which wants to reassure the residents by ensuring that its pioneering system guarantees all standards and emission controls.
Biogas, an “opportunity for the green conversion” of intensive livestock farming
Beyond the Serinan council and the promoters, there are also other favorable voices, such as that of the environmentalist and climate activist Sergi Nuss, of the Renovem-nos association, who also participated in the round table, and, before the climate emergency, regrets the attitude of “doing nothing”. “The agro-livestock model and the Catalan meat sector is currently unsustainable, it represents 11% of the emissions in Catalonia, but it is so large and structural that we cannot make it disappear suddenly, so the biogas strategy can serve to to graft the sector onto the route of green conversion and decarbonisation of the country”, defends Nuss, who adds: “Projects like the one in Serinyà will make it possible to reduce slurry emissions, reduce the pernicious impacts of fertilizer on groundwater, and the produced biomethane can be distributed to the network by replacing the use of gas of fossil origin with one of biological origin. However – he clarifies – the projected plant is much higher than the average of the 1,300 in Europe, so a rethinking of its dimensions makes perfect sense”.
The possible biogas plant in Serinyà is by no means an isolated case in Catalonia, but is part of the strategy approved by the Government which plans to generate 2 TWh/year with this resource before 2030, with the aim of ‘obtain useful energy from the organic waste of livestock.
