The Santa Eulalia Park in the municipality of Santa Margalida in the island’s northeast is proposed to comprise 9.626MWp of solar PV on a 5ha site, split into two halves – Santa Eulalia I and Santa Eulalia II – with different ownerships and different and independent connections to the medium voltage grid.

The proposed offer for public participation is €809,360 (US$917,000) to provide a 40% share, with 20% of the economic return to remain in the Balearic Islands.

Investment priority starts with residents in the neighbourhood of Santa Margalida for 15 days.

At the end of that period, the radius is further extended in 15-day periods for the unsold amount first to the neighbouring municipalities, then to the other Balearic Islands and finally to the whole of Spain.

The Balearic Islands are an archipelago off eastern Spain, in the Mediterranean. Mallorca (Majorca), the largest island, is known for its beaches, scenic coastline and the Serra de Tramuntana mountains to the north. Palma, the capital city, is known for its Gothic cathedral with an altar canopy by modern architect Antoni Gaudí, and Almudaina, a Moorish royal palace.

“Local participation is essential in the new distributed energy model that is coming as we are moving away from having one or two thermal power plants in the territory to having many renewable installations,” said Pep Malagrava, director-general of Energy and Climate Change of the Balearic Islands government.

“Moreover, this local participation links the project with the territory and its citizens. That is why the path we are embarking on with this park is so important because it allows the citizens of the municipality of Santa Margalida to invest in a renewable generation plant and obtain benefits from this investment, returning them as a priority to the territory where the park is installed”.

Public participation in renewable generation facilities was introduced in Balearic Island Law 10/2019 on climate change and the energy transition with the requirement of a minimum 20% participation in facilities with a capacity of 5MW and greater.

The Santa Eulalia solar park will be developed by the local renewable company G-Ener and German solar specialist Enerparc.

Funding for the park is via the Spanish renewable energy crowdfunding platform, Fundeen. The minimum investment required is €500 and the profitability is estimated at 6.5% over seven years.

United Phosphorus Ltd (UPL) is planning to dump even more poisonous pesticides into the sea in an apparent bid to save money on land-based disposal costs barely a month after several Durban beaches were re-opened to tourists and locals.

Several of the city’s most popular swimming beaches were closed for nearly four months as a safety precaution after a torrent of pesticides and other agro-chemicals poured into the sea in the wake of the July, 2021 arson attack on the UPL chemicals warehouse in Cornubia, north of Durban.

Residents of a shack settlement in Cornubia continue to suffer from ill-health after the toxic chemical spill.

South African environmental activists, as well as residents of Cornubia, have slammed the Mumbai-based agrochemical company for its conduct before and after the chemical spill that has been described as one of the biggest disasters in the country in the past “30 to 40 years”.

The UPL warehouse was set ablaze on July 12, 2021 and then exploded, causing extremely hazardous and toxic agrochemicals to spread to the beaches, rivers, soil and air to the north of Durban for several days.

Contaminated beaches were only partially reopened for recreational purposes on 2 November to ensure the safety of beachgoers.

Captain Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar has admitted he was drinking alcohol as cargo ship Wakashio ran aground in July 2020, spilling more than 1,000 tons of fuel into the Indian Ocean near the coast of Mauritius.

The oil leak resulted in the Indian Ocean archipelago’s worst-ever environmental disaster, that saw the captain and officer handed 20-month prison sentences.

The bulk carrier MV Wakashio ran aground on July 25, 2020, crashing into a reef.

The ship was carrying over 3,900 tons of fuel oil along with 200 tons of diesel. Nearly 1,000 tons of this cargo leaked into the ocean after the Japanese-owned vessel’s hull cracked on August 6, 2020.

The oil spill’s long-term impacts on the island nation’s fragile ecosystems will take years to fully comprehend, Deutsche Welle reported at the time.

Mauritius had asked Japan to pay close to 3.6 billion yen (€28.5 billion, U.S.$34 million) in order to support local fishermen whose livelihoods were adversely impacted by the oil leak.