In Gubbio, wind power is a collective system

To reach the wind turbine installed by Ènostra in the municipality of Gubbio you have to climb the ridges of the Serra di Burrano, over 11 kilometers from the medieval fortress. In practice, you can only see it when you get below it, the sound of the large blades that cut the air does not clash with the beauty of the hilly landscape. From here, the towers and walls of the town cannot be seen, but as you climb up dirt roads in the middle of the farms, you cross the fractions where the wounds of industrial activities are evident: large cement factories are one with the urban area.

L’Cerrone wind turbine, so isolated, it certainly does not suggest a project in which the key word is cooperation. The shovel is the largest collective wind power plant in Italy built by Ènostra and the EWT turbine of about 900 kW produces 2GWh of electricity per year, enough to meet the demand of 900 families. The energy cooperative, which aims to offer 100% renewable, ethical and sustainable electricity, calculates that it will avoid the emission of 878 tons of CO₂ per year, but the families who live near the turbine do not exploit this electricity, the Cerrone plant has nothing to do with an energy community.

In fact, Ènostra builds wind and photovoltaic plants through a non-profit model of participation and sharing. By joining the cooperative you become a member of the company, which supplies electricity from renewable sources with a guarantee of origin. Energy is then supplied to domestic users, businesses and third sector organizations at a discounted rate. The Gubbio plant is one of the 35 already built in Italy with the shares of 10,007 shareholders, for a total of 31.26 GWh of completely renewable energy sold. Even if the activities of Ènostra until now have not included the CERs, Sara Capuzzopresident of the Italian division of the company, which has partners in Portugal, Holland, Greece, Spain, Belgium, United Kingdom and Denmark, points to the activation of as many energy communities as possible as a primary objective.

“In the case of the first turbine in Gubbio – he says – there was no possibility of dialogue with the territory, but the process will be very different for the second project, for which an agreement with the Municipality has already been drawn up” . The signature is already there: a second wind turbine will be built in Castiglione, on an uncultivated agricultural land at 859 meters above sea level. Also in this case, the 999 Kw wind turbine will have little impact on the landscape, or it will do so like the large antennas of the repeaters that already stand out on the ridge.

The mayor of Gubbio, Filippo Stiratiis enthusiastic about the project: “We have agreed with Ènostra the organization of apublic initiative to present this great opportunity to citizens, the first step to start up energy communities as well. In the case of the first turbine we were little involved, but now I would like to make it our theme, both for the importance of environmental sustainability and for the energy crisis. For now we have tried to save by equipping all public lighting with LED lights, it seems like a small thing, but in terms of emissions it will be like planting 52 thousand trees “.

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For the president of Ènostra, Capuzzo, Gubbio is ready to invest in the new project: “The Pro loco itself has asked to participate, interested in a fixed price rate and numerous companies have asked for information. We would have already nominated the project as Cer, but at the time of start-up there was a limit of 200Kw, it is one of the examples of the need to have undergone implementing decrees with precise indications. In our opinion, the GSE has lost the opportunity to accelerate the transitional phase by enabling as many CERs as possible and thus collect useful elements for the definitive phase “.