“We don’t want a biomethane plant, we want a development model compatible with public health and the quality of life of the inhabitants.” Francisco Serrano, one of the spokespersons of the Stop Mengíbar Biomanthrop Plant (Jaén) platform, thus summarizes the feelings and doubts that many of his neighbors have regarding a project that aims to transform biogas into natural gas using waste from olive groves. Last Sunday, more than 3,000 people gathered in Mengíbar to say no to this plant, one of the twenty that are currently being transformed in this province and which are part of the Andalusian Biogas Alliance, an initiative of the Government of Juan Manuel Moreno (PP) which has Jaén as its epicenter. However, public administrations, researchers and the agricultural sector itself defend this type of renewable energy, which they see as an opportunity for the social and sustainable relaunch of the province.
The objective of these plants is to transform biogas into natural gas suitable for injection into the gas network. However, the infrastructure generated strong opposition in cities such as Mengíbar, Las Infantas, Villanueva del Arzobispo, Campillos, Vilches, Alcalá la Real, Guarromán or Andújar, all governed interchangeably by the PP and the PSOE. Neighbors especially complain about the proximity of these projects to their homes and the environmental and health risks they say they will have to endure.
The municipal council of Mengíbar (of the PSOE) recalls that it is up to the Andalusian government to validate the project, whose integrated environmental authorization was submitted for public information last June. The delegate of the Andalusian Government in Jaén, Jesús Estrella, underlined the level of demand that the Autonomous Administration places in terms of technical and environmental requirements in granting authorizations for this type of plant. And the promoting company, Naturmet, wanted to clarify that in Mengíbar there will be no gas emissions since the biomethane will be injected into the network as natural gas, without odors, particles or smoke.
It is estimated that each ton of olive oil produces four tons of alperujo, the residue generated in the olive milling process. And it is expected that each of these plants will treat a minimum of 150,000 tons of waste, fueled mainly by olive milling waste and pruning residues. Therefore, biomethane takes advantage of this waste generated in the closer environment to produce renewable gas, promoting the circular economy.
“The plants will help solve the problem of waste management from the olive grove, transforming it into energy and natural fertilizers, which will also generate additional income for cooperatives and farmers,” says Marino Aguilera, mayor of the PP of Alcalá la Real, a municipality where an investment of 35 million euros in a plant for the treatment of vegetable waste from the olive grove was announced. The municipal councilor of Alcalá adds that this infrastructure “will not pose any risk or inconvenience to the population since it is located in an isolated area and has all environmental guarantees.”
The organizations representing the agricultural and livestock sector of Andalusia -Asaja, UPA, Coag and Cooperativas Agroalimentarias- have also positioned themselves receptively towards the plants planned in the province, considering that “they would generate employment, added value and new economic and environmental opportunities for farmers and breeders”. Naturally they ask administrations for clearer and more truthful information on its benefits and possible harms.
“Biogas and biomethane plants are not only compatible with our agricultural model, but they strengthen it. They use waste from our main economic activity, the olive grove, together with other agricultural and livestock by-products, to generate clean and sustainable energy. What is an environmental problem, waste management, becomes a source of wealth and employment”, said the rector of the University of Jaén (UJA), Nicolás Ruiz, after meeting a group of experts who approved the social and environmental sustainability of these projects.
Naturally, the rector believes that these initiatives must be accompanied by the “obligation of strict compliance with applicable legislation”, something also supported by environmentalists, who have warned of the risks and conditions that these plants can cause to the population. “The large size of the projects that are planned to be carried out in the province of Jaén makes it difficult to manage environmental risks and effects on the population,” said Javier Ramírez, spokesperson for Ecologistas en Acción in Jaén.
According to the environmental organization, there are 17,000 biogas plants in Europe (of which around 1,500 focus on biomethane), but their size and problems are small. In Spain there are nine large biomethane plants, “six with big problems for the population and also environmental problems, fires and explosions”, adds Ramírez.
Ecologists in Action believes that “no significant jobs or wealth will be generated in the area, because the other major problem suffered in other areas is the contamination of the soil and aquifers in the area”.
Meanwhile, the various city platforms that have arisen against these biogas and biomethane plants warn that their protests will not cease. “We will continue the mobilization until the installation is definitively ruled out, we want the neighbors to be heard,” says Pedro Martos, from the platform that emerged in the city of Las Infantas. All political groups in the municipality of Jaén have asked the Andalusian government to suspend the environmental authorization for the Las Infantas plant, and the project was also withdrawn by the municipality of Villanueva del Arzobispo after protests from the neighborhoods.
