Solar Power: Lessons from Abroad 02"Don't Let Green Energy Turn from Environmental Savior into a Rural Scourge! Italian Citizen Groups Step Up, Using Legislation and Litigation to Block Reckless Development

(Continued from the previous article) Green energy rose to prominence under the banner of environmental protection, like a savior rescuing us from climate change and fighting pollution, but without sound planning, it instead becomes a killer plundering the countryside and rural villages. To prevent such chaos, Antonio De Giorgi, former energy chief of the Province of Lecce in Italy's Puglia region and an environmental activist, carefully took stock twenty years ago and proposed a renewable energy plan.

But a perfect plan is no match for real-world changes, much less able to withstand political pressure and commercial interests. His plan was shelved indefinitely after politicians opposed it, and solar manufacturers, given free rein, went full throttle, with solar panels sweeping across the Puglia plain. The problem of green energy threatening the Italian countryside was noticed by the Taiwan government ten years ago, but instead of learning from the lesson, it let a similar scenario play out in Taiwan.

Panels Devour Fertile Farmland as Renewables Soar, Yet Coal Plants Are Slow to Exit

Puglia became the region with the largest power generation in the country. There were not many project sites, but most were large-scale installations, and generation once reached 40% of the nation's solar power. Puglia became Italy's renewable energy generator, with more than half of its electricity transmitted northward. But while solar generation soared rapidly, fossil fuel power plants burning coal and natural gas exited at a snail's pace, and using renewables to fight global warming and environmental pollution was reduced to a slogan for solar expansion.

Loud green energy slogans drowned out dissenting voices, and solar panels conquered farmland far and wide. Starting in 2005, the Italian government rolled out renewable energy regulations one after another, and after announcing solar panel subsidies in 2007, farmland prices in Puglia sextupled in just two years.

In 2013, Italy ranked second in the world in solar power generation, behind only Germany. The EU set a target that each country's renewable energy must reach 20% of total power generation by 2020. The Puglia region hit the target as early as 2012, but solar and wind power continued to expand.

Nicchi Vendola, president of the Puglia region, who came from the environmental movement and supported green energy, also spoke out against it in 2014, saying: "This model cannot be called sustainable development." He called on the central government to enact national regulations to control renewable energy that had run wild like an unbridled horse.

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