On returning to Spain after spending some time out of the country it is surprising how quickly you readjust, and after no time at all it feels like you never left as nothing has usually changed. There was one noticeable difference however when I returned to Spain in August after several weeks away. Large quantities of mighty mechanisms of metal lain flat were covering an extensive surface area at the end of our road. Instead of being worried about this recently assimilated heap of gigantic components of machinery we were faced with just minutes from our house, we were actually excited. Are enthusiasm derived from the belief that these parts, when assembled, would form wind turbines which would constitute a wind farm, creating a distinct alteration to the landscape that would not merely be an improvement but indispensable to our planet’s survival.

The power of wind is undeniable. People have exploited and utilized this power more many centuries. It has been used to pump water, grind grain and move ship across oceans. The latest use for wind is to generate power by the means of wind turbines and Spain is at the forefront in developing, installing and utilizing these means, and is rapidly becoming a wind energy powerhouse.

We were right in believing the apparatus at the end of our road were components of wind turbines, but we were wrong in thinking the wind farm was going to be built there. Instead the land is being used for storing the impending renewable energy farm. Nearly four months later the wind farm is almost finished and is situated just a few kilometres down the road at the village of Hiyate. This tiny town is position high on the A334 and is exposed to all the elements Spanish weather can offer and whenever I pass through Hiyate it nearly always seems to be noticeably gustier than anywhere else nearby.

Spain is wisely reaping the benefits of such windswept areas, as now a cluster of fifty plus towering posts at different stages of construction loom ahead. Some are finished with their huge propeller blades slowly and unobtrusively spinning. The landscape at Hiyate may have been beautiful before but is even more so now with the erection of these stunning generators working in the landscape they have been conceived for to shield and protect so that it remains beautiful for many, many years to come.

In recent years, given the rise in the cost of fossil fuels and the environmental problems stemming from their exploitation, we are witnessing a rush towards renewable forms of power. The cost of producing wind energy has come down since the 1980s. Although more and more of these mighty, majestic mechanisms appear to be just springing up across the landscapes of Spain, in reality they take many months to erect, as I have witnessed first-hand living near to the storage park. Another wind farm which is visible from Hiyate is also under construction, not far away at the village of Zujar. This wind farm, according to Maria Ferdanez who works at the Ayuntamiento in Zujar, was strategically sited following an intense five year study on wind strength and power in the area.

Work has already started laying the infrastructure for fifteen new wind farms in Malaga which are due to be completed by the middle of 2008, making Malaga the second province in Andalucia to generate the most amount of wind energy, behind Cadiz. Spanish energy policy anticipates benefiting further from its meteorological conditions by generating thirty percent of its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2010, with half of that coming from wind power. It is expected that this will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 77 million tonnes.

Spain’s installed wind power capacity makes it the second largest wind energy producer in the world, behind Germany. One of the reasons Spain stands out from other European leaders in wind power, according to Corin Millais, Head of the European Wind Energy Association, is that environmental issues have not been the driving force behind the expansion of wind powered energy in Spain. According to Millais,

“It is much more a story about regional growth, economic development, driving an economy that requires increasing amounts of energy”.

Andalucia has certainly seen economic development in recent years, helped by a growth in the population of foreigners migrating to previously poor farming communities like Hiyate, The growth in numbers is consequently met by an increasing demand for energy. Spain is generating this new demand from clean, renewable energy and in an exposed area like Hiyate, wind power is a natural fit. Spain provides a model for countries around the world looking to implement stronger legislation and encourage the development of wind power. In the UK at the moment you are barely able to open a newspaper without a reminder of the current environmental concerns. But due to weak policies and indecision by the government, the UK is being left behind in the fight against global warming. Whereas an island that has the enormous amounts of wind that Great Britain does, it could and should be amongst the leaders.

Instead Spain is the vanguard with more and more wind farms using state-of-the-art technology being built. When I went to photograph the generators at the storage site, it was unbelievable just how big they are as they look tiny when assembled at the top of a turbine. It takes a seven and a half ton lorry to manoeuvre one generator. The wind turbines at Hiyate are manufactured by Gamesa who are one of the main wind turbine manufacturers worldwide and leaders in Spain in the sector of manufacture, sale and installation of wind turbines. In 2006 Gamesa were ranked second worldwide in wind turbines supplied with more than 10,000 megawatts installed and it is Gamesa Solar who have produced the spectacular photovoltaic panel manufacturing plant in Sevilla.

Wind farms are of course not without their critics. Many refer to them as “blights on the horizon”, believing they ruin the landscape. Although I find wind turbines to be quite calming and mesmerising and when viewed from afar they seem to blend into the landscape, arguing over the aesthetic merits of wind turbines is ultimately futile. If we continue to change our climate and erode our atmosphere by refusing to accept greener forms of energy, the beautiful landscape the critics are so ardently trying to protect will be ultimately doomed anyway. Even if you do find these stunning, gigantic mechanisms visually displeasing, tolerating their appearance is a small price to pay when you consider what they are minimising.

Wind power bites. It is a multi-faceted subject which causes a lot of argument and debate. The growing assemblages of towering turbines that can be seen “sprouting” across the hillsides throughout Andalucia, symbolise a radical change to the provinces’ power situation, and are a sign of a new and responsible era of humanity. In obtaining power by capturing and converting the kinetic energy of moving air, allows an area’s surpluses meet another area’s needs. By attempting to avoid “disfiguring the landscape”, by not harnessing indigenous energy resources, may result in catastrophic scenarios. And there is no natural resource quite as powerful as the wind.