Forestalia: from Spanish wind energy champion to corruption scandal

Forestalia: the dark side of green energy

Forestalia was the very model of the ecological transition in Aragon: a cutting-edge company, top professionals, committed engineers. Until the story fell apart. What was presented for years as a business success has been exposed as a corruption scheme with political ramifications and millions in inflated costs on the wind turbine bills.

The warnings nobody wanted to hear

Journalist Federico Jiménez Losantos had been sounding the alarm about the network for three or four years. His words about "200-metre-tall wind turbines" sounded like eccentricity. But time has proved him right: the judicial investigation has confirmed that behind the appearance of an exemplary company lay a scheme of inflated invoicing and political exploitation. Those who knew the case from the inside already foresaw that those in charge were so confident that they did not even bother to hide the irregularities.

The political and business network

The investigations point to the involvement of members of the PSOE and the PAR, the parties that have governed Aragon for decades. The company, based in Zaragoza, is said to have woven a web of influence that allowed the invoices for the wind turbines to be inflated unchecked. "The big money is in the turbine invoices," sources in the know said, indicating that the real hole is not in the subsidies but in the construction and maintenance contracts. The sense of impunity was such that they did not even stop when the alerts surfaced in the national media.

What to expect from the case

Those familiar with the atmosphere in Zaragoza say "there's plenty more to come" and that Forestalia's owners - the Jorges, as they are known in the city - have underestimated the perseverance of those who had been denouncing them for years. If the justice system trinc its usual course, some mid-level officials will pay, but the revolving doors and opaque contracting system that made it possible will probably emerge unscathed. The Forestalia case has become the symbol of a green energy that sometimes hides more shadows than light.