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In southern Spain, thousands of hectares of ancient olive groves will be destroyed to make room for solar panels. Campaigners estimate that 100,000 olive trees will be uprooted to make way for the “green,” “renewable” solar farms.
Spain is home to some of the world’s oldest olive trees, particularly in the Montsià plains of southern Catalonia, where more than 4,400 trees are thought to be over 1,000 years old and are still producing olives. Some are over 2,000 years old, dating all the way back to Roman times.
The Sénia region, located between Barcelona and Valencia, is known for having over 4,900 ancient olive trees, with the Taula del Sénia institution conducting an ongoing census of these trees since 2009.
These trees are not only significant for their age but also for the unique olive oil they produce, which is appreciated for its quality despite the challenges in harvesting from such old and fragile trees.
Yet, about 700 kilometres away, in southern Spain, ancient olive groves are facing uprooting as solar projects expand, particularly in the region of Andalusia, which is known for its high sunshine hours and olive oil production.
Related: The History and Culture of Olives in Andalucia, Toma & Coe,13 September 2023
The town of Lopera, for instance, is at the heart of this conflict, with plans for eight major solar installations that could affect up to 1,000 hectares of land. Olive grove owners are struggling to save their plantations and fight against expropriation, with some landowners agreeing to lease their plots while others are holding out despite facing forced expropriation.
Campaigners predict that the eight solar projects planned for the area will require the removal of nearly 100,000 olive trees. The regional government puts the estimate lower, at 13,000. Losing 500 hectares of olive groves would wipe out more than two million euros ($2.3 million) in annual revenues, according to local olive oil cooperative La Loperana.
So far, about 5,000 olive trees have been uprooted in the Province of Jaén, where the equivalent of about 100 football fields of olive trees will be lost.
Read more:
- ‘It’s a crime’: Solar park boom threatens Spain’s olive tree growers, The Local, 14 April 2025
- One hundred olive farmers face eviction to make way for giant solar farm, The Telegraph, 23 March 2025
Jaén is the largest producer of olive oil in the world. Olive trees in Jaén cover an area of approximately 600,000 hectares; there are so many trees that the region is known as the “Sea of Olives.” In January 2017, the “Olive Grove Landscapes of Andalusia” was placed on UNESCO’s tentative list for inclusion to be nominated as a World Heritage Site.
In February 2023, the application for listing the Landscape as a UNESCO World Heritage Site was finalised. It was hoped that the Sea of Olives would be among the contenders to receive protected status from the United Nations at UNESCO’s July 2024 meeting. Unfortunately, the Sea of Olives did not make it onto the list of 28 sites being considered at the UNESCO meeting. Andalusia’s olive groves are still on Spain’s tentative list.
Despite this, the Spanish government is planning to uproot 100,000 olive trees to make way for “green,” “renewable,” intermittent and unreliable energy, as shown in the depressing video tweeted by Bernie Spofforth (“Bernie”).
Tweeting the same video, Global Dissident commented: “In Spain’s Andalusia, hundreds of thousands of ancient olive trees were destroyed to make room for solar panels. A crime against nature and common sense. We all saw the result: blackouts.”
From expose-news.com
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