The chairmanship and the Municipal Board of Frøya voted today 11/4 2019 that the dispensation period of 3 years for the start of wind power development in an LNF (agriculture, nature and open air area) area has expired. This means that developer Trønderenergi cannot start work on setting up 14 units. 180 meter high wind turbines.
The history of opposition to wind turbines on Frøya has been going on since 2005, and the People's Action No to wind power plants on Frøya was eventually founded. In all these years since the foundation of the group, the Norwegian Environmental Protection Association (NMF) has worked closely with this group. Only in January 2019 did Trønderenergi, which was the last applicant to start up with wind power on Frøya, receive financial support from the German company Stadtwerke Munchen of NOK 3 billion to start the development in cooperation, and with shared ownership with the German company .
Trønderenergi then proceeded with its plans for start-up. The popular action against wind power on Frøya then started a new referendum on wind power on Frøya, where the result was that close to 80 % of Frøya's population voted against an industrial area with 14 monster turbines on Frøya. Trønderenergi and its German partner did not care about such a new referendum, and only related to old resolutions from 2012 and 2016. On 1 April 2019, Trønderenergi therefore drove an excavator out into the intended area for start-up. People's action No to wind power on Frøya reacted quickly, and contacted NMF again. People flocked to the area, and together with people from NMF, a camp was quickly set up in the area. The rest is history for the history books.
What happens next?
Trønderenergi now has 3 options as NMF sees it. Either they can withdraw the decision made by the chairmanship and the municipal council before the court with a claim that they had started the work before the dispensation deadline expired, they can appeal the decision to the County Governor, or they can submit a new application for dispensation to start in an LNF area. If the County Governor supports the decision made by the chairmanship and the municipal council, which is normal for such decisions, the state can override the decision, which again is very rare. NMF sees it as most likely that Trønderenergi will withdraw the decision before the legal system. All 3 alternatives are long-term processes, which both NMF and Folkeksjonen No to wind power on Frøya consider difficult for Trønderenergi to win.
So NMF is today celebrating a preliminary victory together with our good friends at Frøya. A victory for nature, people and species diversity.
Media reports here: The municipal board wants to stop TrønderEnergi
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