BKW, one of the largest Swiss electricity supply companies, is investing 250 million francs in the construction of a new wind farm in southern Italy. One of the reasons: new wind farms can be built much more quickly in Italy than in Switzerland.
The Bernese company BKW already operates several wind farms in Puglia, Italy. The largest of them is in Castellaneta: 28 wind turbines turn there.
“The wind blows regularly and the weather is not too stormy, which is ideal,” says Robert Itschner, Chairman of the Board of Management of BKW. “The country is also very sparsely populated, so there is still room to build larger wind farms.”
Five times faster than in Switzerland
In mid-October, BKW invited several media representatives to Puglia to demonstrate how quickly wind farms can be built there. It takes five to six years on average from initial plans to implementation. In Switzerland, this period can reach 20 to 25 years.
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Approval procedures take place in parallel
“In Italy, municipalities and environmental protection organizations also have their say, but the different authorization procedures take place in parallel, which allows things to go much faster,” emphasizes Robert Itschner.
According to BKW, Italy also requires a comprehensive environmental impact study at national level. The wind farm operator must identify the potential positive and negative effects of the project on the environment, landscape, biodiversity and cultural heritage and implement compensatory measures.
Italy’s main environmental associations, such as Legambiente, WWF and Greenpeace, also support the development of wind energy in principle. However, as a regional representative from Legambiente pointed out when asked, these associations would like to have more of a say in the planning of wind farms at the local level.
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Goal: move away from oil and gas
However, the Italian government is banking on solar and wind power to free itself from the production of electricity from oil and gas. “Wind farms also provide skilled jobs in less developed regions of the country,” adds Margarita Aleksieva, head of wind and solar energy at BKW. “In our service center in Troia, we have 60 employees who monitor and control our wind turbines throughout Europe and also provide service and maintenance to our wind farms and those of other suppliers.”
Today, BKW is building another wind farm in Cerignola, Puglia. And the mafia? BKW says it is aware that organized crime also wants to make money from construction projects in this region, underlines the chairman of the Itschner group. He insists the company will look very closely at who is awarded construction contracts.
Klaus Bonanomi (SRF)
(As noted, the press trip to southern Italy was organized by BKW. However, the costs were covered by SRF)
