From a modest province to a wind Giant!

Today I will tell the story of a small north-eastern Spanish village called Iratxeta that become self-sufficient in its energy production by using wind turbines. Iratxeta is a cluster of stone houses that is rested on hills in the Spanish region of Navarre. Iratxeta is surrounded by dark green mountain forest and the village is forever famous for its wheat fields, within itself. For information, Navarre is one of Spain’s 15 mainland autonomous regions is located in the north-east, between the Basque country and the French border.


Let me put out a brief historical over view - during the time of the Roman Empire, the territory of Iratxeta was inhabited by the Vascones. Vascones were an ancient people and it is likely that they are ancestors of the present-day Basques. The Basques are an indigenous people who inhabit parts of north-eastern Spain and south-western France to this date.


Iratxeta is full of wind turbines. The idea of setting up wind turbines struck Jose Roman Gomez, the manager of the local councils in Iratxeta (the village is self-governed) , fifteen years before and things began to change for the better gradually. Before this wind-boom happened it was a dying village with no running water and health facilities. Now the village has developed through the years and has also expanded to nearly double its original size. 10, 391 sq. km is its size today.


Today the village has running water and the rent from wind-farm operators has enabled the local council to hire four full-time health workers to care for the community's elderly people. People from a near-by city called Pamplona are investing in Navarre and especially in Iratxeta.
This wind revolution has put Navarre in the forefront of Spain’s wind revolution. Navarre is actually located in the northeast, between the Basque country and the French border. Today this region generates almost 60% of its own electricity from renewable sources — the vast majority from wind. The region's most recent energy plan, released in May, aims to increase this proportion to more than 75% by 2010. So, the wind boom in Navarre is among the most intensive in Spain.


Navarre generates almost 60% of its electricity from renewable sources — the vast majority from wind. The region's most recent energy plan, released in May, aims to increase this proportion to more than 75% by 2010.


Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the government of Navarre was eager to develop new industries, especially as this region seemed overly dependent on its single large industrial employer, a Volkswagen car plant. But with a limited local power supply, Navarre's infrastructure wasn't particularly appealing to outside investors. An entrepreneur called Estanban Morras came up with a wind-power plan that promised a way out of this shortage. So, the government bought into the plan more because of this shortage than environmental reasons. Navarre, being a self-governed region bought into Morra’s vision and was on its way of making itself an wind-giant. The credit, of course goes to Jose Roman Gomez who was instrumental in transforming his village.


The first wind farm of Morras himself was as built south of Pamplona in 1994; since then the government of Navarre has approved well over a thousand turbines in 32 wind farms. From 1995 to 2004, it invested more than 136 million in renewable-energy enterprises. This contributed up to 30% of the initial funding and provided tax credits for investors. Navarre’s wind farms have capacity of producing 950 megawatts of power. It looks as if Navarre might become entirely self-sufficient by 2010, producing 100 % of its electricity through renewables and that the energy for all the villages in Navarre will come from renewables. Morras stresses that this is not an illusion and that it is actually possible, he insists this will be the case from and by 2010. There are many stories like Navarre. Wind farms have transformed Spain's landscape over the past decade.

By

Lakshmi Vishwanathan