Who benefits from the conflict between wind energy and nature?

Why the construction of wind power plants in the Carpathian highlands will cause more harm than good, he writes epravda.com.ua.

Illustrative photo

Who benefits from the conflict between wind energy and nature? Until recently, such questions did not arise, because the largest wind farms were built mainly in the territories of agricultural landscapes of the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine. Of course, wind farms are also known in the Carpathians, in particular in Lviv Oblast and Prykarpattia.

However, these projects were carried out in accordance with the environmental impact assessment methodology, and the territories that have a special natural value were not included among the priorities for the development of wind energy even at the stage of screening and scoping. Even if there is a good and stable wind in these areas.

In this way, the companies that implemented these wind energy projects in the mountains avoided further conflicts with communities and long discussions with ecologists and environmentalists. To date, these projects have been successfully implemented and generate clean energy into a single energy network.

The forest is lost behind the trees

The main goal of European policy today is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. This means that greenhouse gas emissions should reach complete "zero". However, any of our activities produces the emission of greenhouse gases, including the breathing process of every living being.

Therefore, the task of the circular economy and renewable energy is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But it is impossible to achieve climate neutrality without our main ally — without nature.

Natural ecosystems are the main absorbers of greenhouse gases. This important climatic function is fully capable of performing integral natural ecosystems that have not undergone significant transformation as a result of human activity and are characterized by high biodiversity.

In order to achieve climate neutrality on the European continent, in addition to the circular economy and the development of RES, by 2050, 30% of land and 30% of marine water areas should acquire the status of nature conservation areas, and another 20% of transformed areas should be returned to their natural state. Nature conservation areas have priority over RES development.
The conflict between nature and wind energy arises when the project for the development of wind energy does not pass the stage of preliminary assessment of the impact on the environment or passes it poorly, rather formally. The result is an incorrectly placed prioritization of the functional purpose of territories that have the appropriate wind potential.

Thus, territories especially valuable for nature are at risk of being destroyed by "heavy" construction projects. In the mountains, such areas suffer most often, and these areas are the Carpathian highlands.

The highlands in the Ukrainian Carpathians (part of the territory of mountains at an altitude of 1400 m above sea level and above) make up less than 1% of the territory of the entire country. All these mountain areas still have well-preserved nature and forest and mountain biodiversity, they are centers of development of mountain and ecological tourism. These are very rare ecosystems for Ukraine. All high mountain ridges of the Ukrainian Carpathians are objects of the Emerald network (an analogue of Natura 2000).

The high subalpine belt of these ridges is closely surrounded by beech forests, nature reserves of local and national significance, and natural monuments. All these natural complexes are protected from negative impacts by the Forest Code of Ukraine and the laws "On the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine", "On the Red Book of Ukraine", "On the Plant World", "On the Animal World", the Convention on the Protection of Wild Flora and Fauna and Natural habitats in Europe (Bern Convention), the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians (Protocol on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological and Landscape Diversity to of this Convention) and the European Landscape Convention.

High mountain ridges are also very rare landscapes on the scale of the whole of Ukraine, which have characteristic, unique and unrepeatable features for each individual ridge, any change of which will lead to their loss forever.

Given the high natural value of these mountain ranges, their important climatic role, their inaccessibility and remoteness from urbanization, the construction of entire industrial sites, which are wind farms, constitutes a whole complex of risks for nature as a habitat for rare and endangered species. The construction of roads and the construction of communications through the territories and objects of the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine is generally prohibited by law.

So in the pursuit of kilowatts, you can lose much more, and it will never be possible to return the lost nature to its original state. Therefore, such projects are notoriously conflicting and have no right to life.

From the history of conflicts

The first conflict project that brought nature into contact with wind energy was the Turkish wind turbine project on Polonyna Borzhava. Even previous discussions between business representatives and representatives of tourist communities, paraglider associations, environmental protection groups, and academic circles did not stop the intention to build one of the largest Polony ridges with 34 windmills, turning the natural and tourist pearl of the Ukrainian highlands into an industrial site.

The main arguments of the opponents of this project were the obligation of the state of Ukraine to preserve the landscape and biodiversity of the Carpathians in accordance with the Bern, Carpathian, European Landscape Conventions and other current environmental protection legislation of Ukraine.

Polonyna Borzhava is an object of the Emerald Network (UA0000263), four reserves are located here. At the upper limit of the forest, the ridge is covered with virgin forests and quasi-virgin forests, and the forestless part of the ridge is represented by subalpine meadows and blueberry bushes. Large-scale earthworks with heavy equipment for the construction of the road network and the pouring of the concrete base would have a devastating effect not only on the subalpine and forest flora and fauna, but also on the unique topography of Borzhava itself. After all, the ridge itself from Velikiy Verkh to The stop has the form of a narrow ridge, on which only one bicycle can pass, or one hiker can walk. To equip only one construction site with an area of ​​1 hectare for the installation of one wind turbine, it would be necessary to "cut" and flatten the terrain, distorting the entire landscape forever.

However, such an irreversible impact on nature was not taken into account by the investor at all. Other risks of this project were repeatedly highlighted in UP, in particular in the article of scientific journalist Dmytro Simonov "Trap for a crane...".

As a result, the project was buried in the courts. Seven years of litigation should actually be a good illustration of how wind energy development in Ukraine should not be developed. After all, wind energy itself, as a source of clean electricity, has suffered significant reputational losses. But walking on the rake turned out to be an irresistible temptation...

The conflict continues

In 2022, the company "Wind Parks of Ukraine" relocated to Transcarpathia began implementing a number of wind energy projects in the Carpathians, almost all of which are again in the highlands.

Today, the Verkhovynsky Vododilny ridge, Polonina Rivna, Ostra, Lyutyanska Golytsia, Polonina Krasna, Apetska and Svidovets are under the target of destruction. All these areas are difficult to access due to the difficult terrain and steep slopes covered with protected forests and primeval forests. Due to their difficult accessibility and lack of roads, these territories are well preserved in their natural state and are objects of the Emerald Network.

Under the umbrella of this pan-European network of nature conservation areas, rare habitats and alpine flora and fauna are to be preserved here. It is impossible to build wind farms on these territories without violating the current environmental protection legislation. This thesis is confirmed by two vivid examples of the efforts of the "Wind Parks of Ukraine" company to get what it wants despite the law.

The first story is related to the laying of a passage for machinery through the protected forests of the Pryvododilny reserve and primeval forests in the Pashkovets Forestry of the Svalyav Forestry branch of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" in 2022.

The company "Wind Farms of Ukraine" did not receive an official permit from the foresters for the construction of the road, because such a permit does not comply with the norms of the law. However, there are no roads to the highlands of the Verkhovyna Watershed Range, only hiking trails. That's why, after hiring FOP, they arbitrarily cleared the forest along the existing tourist trail. Damages to the state amounted to 2 million hryvnias.

Damage to nature is incalculable. After all, not only the forest was affected, but also the soil - deep ravines were washed by the rains on the steep slopes. Without reclamation, it will be impossible to stop erosion processes. You can read how this story ended in the article of investigative journalist Olena Mudra here.

A similar story took place in the "Turiepolyanskyi" nature reserve in the "Shypit" forestry branch of the "Uzhgorod Forestry" branch of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" in 2024. The road to Polonyna Rivne was needed. So they planned to widen the existing road, 3 m wide, for heavy machinery.

Since there is already a road through the polony reserve, it is only too narrow for the needs of developers, a scheme for its expansion was developed with the participation of foresters. The scheme consisted of falsifying documents to obtain approval from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to cut down "dry and emergency trees" that allegedly threatened the life and health of those driving on the road.

Thus, 143 perfectly healthy trees along the road were felled. These trees grew on steep slopes in places with particularly steep turns. That is, the expansion of the existing road for heavy equipment also involved "cutting" the rock to straighten the road and threatened landslides. All this activity was supposed to take place in the places of growth of species listed in the Red Book of Ukraine.

A joint visit of representatives of the public, state environmental inspectors and foresters to the places where the trees were removed for felling stopped this activity. All the details of this story are covered in Elena Mudra's investigation here.

Meanwhile, representatives of Zakarpattia OVA on all public platforms are talking about much-needed wind energy development projects that are stalled due to the activities of ecologists and activists. Yes, "green" energy projects are necessary for the region, no one disputes this.

But officials do not understand, or pretend not to understand, that the cause of this delay is not ecologists and activists, but the projects themselves, which do not take into account environmental risks at the very beginning of the selection of territories for the implementation of these projects. Report on SEO of the detailed plan of the territory of Polonyna Runa does not contain a complete analysis of environmental risks from the construction of wind power plants.

An example of this is the road through the "Turiepolyanskyi" nature reserve, as an element of the transport infrastructure. The remark about this road in the Report was not taken into account during the public consultation procedure, as well as other important remarks. This detailed site plan, along with the SEA report, is currently being contested in court.

In order to avoid such situations and not to make unjustified attempts to develop wind energy at the expense of nature conservation areas, it is important to determine in detail all operational limitations before developing the next steps in the design of a wind energy project.

This opinion was expressed by a group of environmental scientists in their scientific article. The main restrictions are due to the presence of nature conservation areas and their buffer zones, objects of the Emerald network, coastal protection zones of water bodies, steep slopes, proximity to residential buildings, etc.
With the help of geo-informational modeling, the scientists demonstrated an algorithm for selecting sites for the construction of wind farms using the example of the mountainous Strilkivskaya TG in the Lviv region. The result of such screening is the conclusion that the community has significant wind potential. However, numerous environmental restrictions in the form of objects of the nature reserve fund and the Emerald network make the implementation of wind energy projects practically impossible.

All in minuses

The green recovery of Ukraine involves not only the development of green energy, but also the development of green infrastructure, the key elements of which are nature conservation areas. In order to achieve climate neutrality, the areas of these territories must also grow in proportion to the growth of the amount of green energy generated.

After all, any industrial growth in one way or another produces greenhouse gas emissions. Nature is our reliable climate outpost, and the preservation of natural areas must maintain its priority over any projects involving intervention and transformation.

Unfortunately, no one benefits from such a senseless confrontation between nature and wind energy. Instead, everyone will lose. Environmental protection will take a backseat, although it should play one of the leading roles in the green reconstruction of the country.

The state represented by state authorities at all levels, failing to adequately protect the unique high mountain ranges of the Carpathians, will once again demonstrate to the European Commission its inability to protect the landscape and biodiversity on its territory, and therefore its inefficiency.

The company "Wind Parks of Ukraine" will cause serious image losses to the wind energy industry of Ukraine as a whole, as it will destroy trust in investors. And the projects themselves risk getting stuck in long-term "ecological" discussions and repeating the fate of the Borzhava project.

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