A civic platform has formed to contest plans for two large photovoltaic solar farms near Évora, claiming they will cause “irreversible damage” to the landscape and the lives of residents and tourism businesses.
“The projects will change the landscape, transform it into something completely artificial” Ana Barbosa, spokesperson for “Juntos pelo Divor”, explains.
According to the civic platform, the two plants will occupy “a total area of around 650 hectares” in the parish of Graça do Divor – involving the installation of 394,500 panels in one, and 362,076 panels in the other. The projects are being promoted by Hyperion Renewables Évora and IncognitWorld 3.
Both already have their respective favourable Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) – but as the platform points out: “The energy transition is deeply contradictory to the strategic interests” of the Alentejo, the fundamental resource of which is ‘the landscape’: covering that landscape in photovoltaic solar panels will simply destroy everything that residents have come to cherish, as well as spell financial ruin for multiple tourism initiatives, focused on the ‘untouched beauty of the landscape’.
