“Here in Beira Baixa, numerous enormous solar power plants are being installed. We’re talking about the equivalent of 400 football fields, with photovoltaic panels. It’s absurd. The photovoltaic solar project Sophia is one of the latest major projects now threatening the local population, stated the Member of the European Parliament and former coordinator of the Left Bloc (BE) to the Lusa news agency.
The presidential candidate supported by the BE visited Mata da Rainha in the municipality of Fundão, Castelo Branco district, to address the community’s concerns regarding the Sophia photovoltaic solar plant project.
This project spans the municipalities of Fundão, Idanha-a-Nova, and Penamacor in the Castelo Branco district, representing an investment of around 590 million euros, with an installed capacity of 867 MWp (Megawatt peak).
The project encompasses 390 hectares occupied by photovoltaic modules, 435 hectares including all infrastructure, and a total of 1,734 hectares of fenced area.
“We are damaging highly productive agricultural land, absolutely necessary for the country’s food sovereignty and ecological balance, with photovoltaic panels. There’s no justification for this,” she asserted.
Catarina Martins believes that solar energy production in Portugal can and must be done for energy transition, but “it must be decentralized, not with large fields destroying agricultural land.”
“Currently, trees that are prohibited from being cut for good reasons are being felled. Natural landscapes are being destroyed, as well as the productive and agricultural capacity of this land, along with the quality of life and environmental wellbeing of these populations,” emphasized the presidential candidate.
The MEP has already raised the issue with the European Union and is waiting for a response from the European Commission.
“I think we cannot make deals at the expense of the lives of the thousands of people living here for a handful of individuals. Portugal cannot be like this,” she remarked.
Catarina Martins argues that a robust economy is not one where “some people make substantial deals for their pockets.”
“A good economy respects the populations, and the people of Beira Baixa are repeatedly sacrificed with deals that only destroy their quality of life and offer them nothing. On the contrary, they find themselves abandoned without essential public services and with the need for well-paid quality employment, which none of these plants will provide,” she insisted.
