Scientists question impact of Mexican wind farm project

A group of scientists have expressed their opposition to the planned Eólica del Sur wind farm in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, claiming there is a conflict of interests on behalf of the author of an environmental impact study and questions regarding potential damage to flora and fauna.

A study published by the Union of Socially Committed Scientists (UCCS, in Spanish), a non-profit group comprising scientists, academics and students dedicated to promoting ethical causes, voices concerns regarding the 396MW wind farm that was given the go-ahead in August after an eight-month consultation process carried out among the area's indigenous residents.

The consultation, among the Zapotec community of Juchitán de Zaragoza and El Espinal, consisted of more than 30 meetings and workshops, with more than 1,300 indigenous people participating. They gave their approval to the US$894mn, 132-turbine farm, according to the energy ministry (Sener).

However, the UCCS study claims there is a conflict of interest behind the project, given that the founding partner of the company contracted to carry out the EIS is the undersecretary of planning and environmental policy at the environment ministry (Semarnat), but whom it did not name.

The author of the UCCS report, Fernando Córdova Tapia, also claims there are inconsistencies regarding how much surface area of the lowland jungle will be cut down, alleging that information has been falsified and that the developer plans to clear 100% of the vegetation with no compensation measures.

He said the EIS excludes the 11 wind farms already in operation in the region, making a collective impact evaluation impossible, while the developer has not taken into account the area's biological importance, which is rich in endemic flora and fauna given the confluence of climates and three mountain ranges.

The fauna samples provided for the EIS were insufficient, and underestimate the wind farm's impact, Córdova Tapia said.

No one at the company behind the project, Mexico's Energía Eólica del Sur, was available to comment when contacted by BNamericas.

Wind farm projects in Oaxaca have met with opposition since construction of the state's first, La Venta I in 1994, and local residents have created committees to collectively oppose their installation.

In April 2014, landowners in Juchitán blocked access to the Oaxaca II and Bii Hioxo wind farms to demand compensation for crop damage, and in 2012 locals protested during the opening of the Santo Domingo and Piedra Larga wind farms.

The UCCS report claims that the government is promoting a model of wind farm development in which the benefits will not reach local residents and in which the ecosystem is viewed as an obstacle to infrastructure development, with Mexico far from understanding the concept of 'green' energy and from achieving a transition to sustainable energy generation.