The Borneo Post

Wind-power pollution – turbine oil seeps into land in Mexico

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WIND turbines were planted along a strip of Mexico’s southern coast to make the country’s power industry cleaner. Now they’re spilling oil.

In the town of Juchitan last month, a clean-up was under way around a generator owned by Electricit­e de France. Workers wearing goggles and masks were scrubbing off a coppercolo­ured lubricant that dripped down from the turbine. They’d wrapped cloth around its base, to absorb further leakage, and stuffed contaminat­ed soil and stones into plastic trash-bags.

Flor, who owns the land where the turbine is sited and rents it to EDF, said she arrived on the scene after being alerted by a neighbour. “The stench was terrible, like a sort of burned fuel or ammonia,” she said, asking not to be identified by her surname out of concern over reprisals. “The trees were glistening with oil.” Similar problems have been reported all along the Tehuantepe­c isthmus, one of the western hemisphere’s windiest places.

While the leaks are limited in scope and probably pose no immediate health risk, they look bad – and that’s yet another headache for Mexico’s energy reformers, who are seeking to make more use of renewable sources as state monopolies open up to private capital. The plan has succeeded in attracting global investment, and wind power is getting its share, with more than US$ 6.9 billion already pledged. But it’s also stirring up all kinds of local opposition, which could soon rebound against President Enrique Pena Nieto’s governing party at the ballot-box.

Gas-price hikes in January sparked nationwide protests and looting. The Chiapas region, with a history of rebellion, is up in arms again over plans to sell oil- drilling licences. And now in neighborin­g Oaxaca state – home to almost two-thirds of Mexico’s wind-power capacity, including the Tehuantepe­c turbines – protesters are blockading local highways and calling for future developmen­t to be shelved. Locals often check the radio before their morning commute to find out which routes are blocked.

Electricit­e de France said in an emailed statement that its procedure in such cases would be to ascertain the leak’s causes and assess any environmen­tal damage. Then, “the affected soil, vegetation, pasture and/or crops are removed and the landowner is monetarily compensate­d,” it said. EDF didn’t say which stage it had reached in the Mexican case. It said the lubricant in question was classified as “not dangerous to the environmen­t.”

Spain’s Acciona, which encountere­d similar problems at its installati­ons nearby, said the leaks are a consequenc­e of the same extreme weather that attracted the industry to the isthmus.

Winds “can be vicious” for as much as half the year, said Miguel Angel Alonso Rubio, head of Acciona’s Mexican unit. The turbines use lubricatin­g oil that can leak if upkeep is insufficie­nt or gears malfunctio­n. “During those six months of intense winds, we are unable to clean the leaks,” Alonso said. “We prefer to have the machine dirty than an employee in an accident.”

He said oil from Acciona’s turbines never reached the ground, and the company is working on a fix: a sheath for the gearbox which will prevent the lubricant from running down the mast or onto the blades.

Gamesa Corp Tecnologic­a, which made the EDF turbines used at the Juchitan wind park, said oil leaks occur with “relative frequency” and

The stench was terrible, like a sort of burned fuel or ammonia. The trees were glistening with oil. Flor, land owner

operators are equipped with “spill kits” to deal with them. Most leaks are contained, though “small amounts habitually” spill from the turbines, the company said in an emailed response to questions.

Ramon Fiestas Hummler, chairman of the Latin America committee at the Global Wind Energy Council, said it’s unusual for such spills to actually contaminat­e surroundin­g soil, and when they do then “the company has an obligation to clean the affected area.” He said actual environmen­tal damage would likely be limited. Still, “black stains on white turbines provide local communitie­s with a visible reason to point to when opposing wind projects.”

Activists in south Mexico say they’re worried that more turbines are on the way, and that will mean more leaks.

Pena Nieto’s plan calls for 35 per cent of Mexico’s electricit­y to come from renewable sources by 2024. Companies including EDF last year won rights to build more generators in Tehuantepe­c, and there’ll be further auctions this year. Oaxaca state should be generating 5,000 megawatts by 2020, about twice its current capacity, according to the Mexico Wind Energy Associatio­n, known as Amdee.

“You might not think it’s that big a deal for a little bit of oil to end up in the land,” said Bettina Cruz, an activist, at her home in Juchitan. “But there are nearly 2,000 turbines here now and hundreds more are planned in the next few years. The leaks will add up. Right into the land we use for water and food.”

Cruz is a Zapotec, one of the indigenous groups scattered across Mexico that often take the lead in local protests. Carlos Sanchez founded Radio Totopo and does a daily broadcast in the Zapotec dialect. “The government seems to award projects to giant companies without considerin­g that there are already people living on these lands,” he said. “And they are the people that have been here for centuries.” — WP-Bloomberg

 ??  ?? Customers exit taxis as demonstrat­ors block a road during a protest against the high cost of electric power in the town of Juchitan, Mexico, on April 19. (Below) Copper coloured lubricant leaks from wind turbines in the town of Juchitan, Mexico, on...
Customers exit taxis as demonstrat­ors block a road during a protest against the high cost of electric power in the town of Juchitan, Mexico, on April 19. (Below) Copper coloured lubricant leaks from wind turbines in the town of Juchitan, Mexico, on...
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 ??  ?? A tree branch shines with lubricant from a wind turbine in the town of Juchitan, Mexico, on April 20.
A tree branch shines with lubricant from a wind turbine in the town of Juchitan, Mexico, on April 20.

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