Tiago Lourenço, 46, Julien Huys, 40, and Laurence Manchee, 43, share the choice of Beira Baixa for life projects, which could be conditioned by the Sophia photovoltaic solar plant.
On a cold morning, with fog restricting the landscape, Tiago Lourenço, who left Lisbon for Beira Baixa a decade ago, spoke to the Lusa agency about the project that may condition his future and his life: the Sophia photovoltaic solar plant project, which covers the municipalities of Fundão, Idanha-a-Nova and Penamacor, in the district of Castelo Branco.
“I was never contacted. I was surprised, as everyone else, when this landed on our laps. We feel a need to react and to fight. Here is the result of the political powers. There must be a mobilization of civil society.”
The owner and partner of a farm with 180 hectares, near the historic village of Idanha-a-Velha (Idanha-a-Nova municipality), dedicates himself mainly to the production of traditional dry olive grove olive oil, with the territory’s endemic varieties.
For Tiago Lourenço, part of the project is precisely about preserving these varieties and the traditional Mediterranean landscape.
“Obviously the impact on the landscape with these megasolar plants will compromise the temperatures and the difficulties we already have in terms of climate change. It will accelerate them and will inevitably create changes that we cannot predict now and that later we may not have solutions for.”
The entrepreneur told Lusa that he left Lisbon specifically because of the Beira Baixa’s landscape.
“It was the landscape that attracted me here. I’ve been working here for 10 years, a long effort to recover the traditional dry olive grove that was abandoned, until turning it into a nationally referenced project. All of that will be compromised and undermines this whole effort of leaving urban life and settling in the interior, which is facing gravely serious demographic problems.”
But Tiago Lourenço is not alone. Three families from Lisbon, five children and three couples, arrived in Idanha-a-Velha at different times.
“We have the ambition to transform the space into a center for interpreting the rural landscape. The landscape calls us, the traditional agriculture calls us, the natural space, the way of life and a way of being that becomes completely compromised when you decide to industrialize the landscape, distort it, without any sensitivity to those who live here, to life projects and to the future that becomes compromised,” he laments.
But, despite everything, he refuses to give up: “The project will not happen. It cannot happen. If it happens, it completely decharacterizes the entire work and puts everything into perspective. If there is indeed a concern about energy decarbonization, then the interests that should be prioritized will never be to destroy nature and occupy fertile territories.”
In Penamacor, Lusa found Julien Huys, a Belgian of 40 who has settled there for about eight years with his family, wife and two daughters.
This former carpenter initially acquired a three-hectare plot, to which he has since added another four hectares, where he currently runs an agro-tourism project.
“I came to Portugal because I wanted to change country. In Belgium, life was too hectic and expensive. Here I can find peace and a sense of freedom, which is very difficult to find in Europe. In Portugal, it was here [Penamacor] that I could find all of this,” he explained.
Julien told Lusa that he learned of the intention to install the Sophia plant when he read a news article.
“Then I started talking to people and almost no one knew. This project cannot happen. The energy transition is not like this. It doesn’t make sense,” he admitted.
The Belgian expresses concern about the future if the project moves forward: “Since we heard about this project we have been afraid. What are we going to do?”
For the entrepreneur, who bet everything on the agrotourism project, the future is quite uncertain, since the presence of the photovoltaic plant will lead to changes in the landscape and, consequently, to the loss of customers.
However, he refuses to give up and says that the important thing is to fight a project that does not make any sense.
Near Mata da Rainha, in the Fundão municipality, Lusa’s team met Laurence Manchee, 43.
This British man who has lived there for around 10 years acquired 18 hectares of land, where he practices organic farming and also teaches ‘workshops’ and courses in organic farming.
He had worked in an office, but chose Portugal for the nature and the tranquility: “I have a good life, the landscape is beautiful and life is calmer. The community here in Mata da Rainha is very good.”
Laurence Manchee learned of the Sophia project’s intention when a lady in the village showed him the link to a news article.
“So far no one has contacted me. If we end up with solar panels all around, there will be no reason to live here, aside from the implications for farming.”
The farmer is also worried because the access road to his quinta, within the project, will be cut and nine hectares of his farm will be affected.
For the British, the possibility of selling is ruled out, since no one wants to buy the lands, in addition to its devaluation.
To Lusa, he said that one of his neighbors had already agreed to sell a house and the quinta, a deal that was canceled as a result, presumably, of this photovoltaic project.
For now, he does not even consider selling or renting his quinta. He just wants to live his life, with his family, which grew seven days ago with the birth of his son.
If the project is carried out with the current plan, Laurence Manchee promises to fight together with the entire village that is united against this project.
“The project will not advance,” he guaranteed.
The Sophia photovoltaic solar plant covers the municipalities of Fundão, Idanha-a-Nova and Penamacor, in the district of Castelo Branco, and represents an investment of around 590 million euros, for an installed capacity of 867 MWp (Megawatt peak).
It is a project with 390 hectares of area occupied by photovoltaic modules, 435 hectares considering all infrastructures, and a total of 1,734 hectares of fenced area.
The Beira Baixa Intermunicipal Community (CIM) has already issued a negative opinion on the project, within the scope of the public consultation, due to the enormous impacts on the community and the territory.
The environmental assessment is still ongoing, and the legal deadline for this procedure ends on February 9.
