Company to seek new site for power station

THE company Sampol Ingeniería y Obras SA will seek a new site for the power station it planned to build on land close to the Balearic University campus, following fierce opposition to the project from neighbours and the University itself. This was announced yesterday by Josep Juan Cardona, the Balearic minister for commerce, industry and energy, University rector Avel.lí Blasco, and chairman of the company Gabriel Sampol. They held a joint press conference to announce the decision.
Sampol said that the initial site, close to the Parc Bit in the suburb of Son Espanyol, “was the best site in Majorca ” for the power station, because it was close to the university, the future Son Espases hospital and the underground, all of which it could supply with electricity. However, in view of the opposition, the company has decided to reconsider the site and seek an alternative.
This is now being done in collaboration with specialists from the University.
He said that the new site would need access to natural gas, transport lines for energy and must permit cogeneration. But he expressed a regret that his company had not been able to persuade the neighbours of the benefits of the power station, claiming that it would pollute less than the cogeneration power station which already exists in the Parc Bit and will make “less noise than the cars on the road.” The minister said that the government backs the project, in the first place because it will break the monopoly in electricity generation and in the second place, because it will be a co-generation power station which will guarantee the supply of heating, hot water and refrigeration. He added that the power station would produce 40 megawatts of energy and should be ready by 2008, coinciding with the arrival of natural gas. Blasco expressed his satisfaction at the company's flexibility and their decision to maintain the project but seek a new site for it.