PORT LLIGAT, Spain — Moises Tibau clambered aboard his small wooden boat at dawn, pushing off from a craggy outcropping in front of the house where Salvador Dal composed some of his most famous Surrealist paintings.
Mr. Tibau, one of the two remaining fishermen in this speck of a Mediterranean town about 100 miles north of Barcelona, was hoping for a haul of lobster, langoustine and scorpionfish. But as he slowly motored into an otherwise deserted bay, Mr. Tibau was preoccupied by the looming threat of modernization.
Government officials are set to approve construction of a huge floating wind farm just offshore, and international energy companies are already jockeying to harness the volatile northerly winds in the area known as la Tramontana.
The push comes as a deadly summer heat wave made worse by climate change is threatening to break temperature records in England and sparking wildfires in France, Spain, Portugal and Greece.
Dozens of turbines could soon be marching across the horizon, providing urgently needed renewable energy to Catalonia, a part of Spain that is still highly dependent on fossil fuels, but fundamentally altering the character of a region that has changed little from the time when Dal walked the hills.
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The contentious project on the Spanish coast is emblematic of a push-and-pull taking place throughout Europe as officials rush to reduce planet-warming emissions by phasing out fossil fuels and rapidly building utility-scale renewable energy projects. The war in Ukraine has added urgency to the effort, as European policymakers try to break free from their dependence on Russian oil and gas.
Yet from the coast of Spain to the rivers of Albania, efforts to deploy large wind, solar and hydroelectricity projects are running into roadblocks that include NIMBYism, environmentalist concerns and a bureaucracy that hampers quick action.
Complicating matters is the fact that big wind and solar projects require significant space — something that can be difficult to come by in Europe, a continent that also has thousands of years of cultural history and artifacts to contend with.
The rush to harness la Tramontana has emerged as the latest flash point in a growing debate over where to locate new renewable energy projects across Europe. Besides disrupting the views depicted in masterworks such as “The Persistence of Memory,” residents of this sleepy corner of Spain say the offshore wind farm would also spoil the views from Cap de Creus Natural Park, place enormous machinery perilously close to one of the biggest marine preserves in Europe, deter tourists from visiting the scenic town of Cadaqus and forever disrupt their bucolic way of life.
“As a local, I’m mostly concerned about the fishing, yes,” said Mr. Tibau, 59, who has been working the waters for decades and is opposed to the project. “But also about the cultural spirit of Cadaqus, the landscape that inspired Dal.”
Similar stories are playing out around the continent. In northern France, scallop fishermen last year fired flares and blocked a boat that was working to install one of the country’s first offshore wind farms, and in Sweden there is resistance to a plan to build wind farms in a pristine area of wilderness.
Europe’s Shift Away From Fossil Fuels
The European Union has begun a transition to greener forms of energy. But financial and geopolitical considerations could complicate the efforts.
Greek islanders are waging violent protests against a major wind farm that locals say would destroy old growth forests and disrupt tourism, while in Italy, a convoluted permitting process is hampering the ability of companies to build wind projects where they have already been approved.
Elsewhere in Spain, residents oppose plans for a huge solar plant in Andalusia that they say would disrupt an archaeologically sensitive site. And in Eastern Europe, activists recently won a major victory when the Albanian government agreed not to install dams on the Vjosa River for hydropower.
“Despite the overwhelming consensus that change is needed, if you talk to people, they just don’t want a wind farm next to them,” said Viktor Katona, an energy analyst at Kpler, a research firm. “The NIMBYism is definitely there, but it’s also the fear of the unknown, and it’s about a way of life.”
The vast majority of Europeans, including those in and around Port Lligat, support ambitious efforts to increase renewable energy.
“When I first saw it, I was supportive,” said Josep Lloret, a prominent marine biologist who teaches at the nearby University of Girona. “We need solutions to mitigate climate change.”
But as Mr. Lloret looked into the details and began to consider the effects on the ecosystem, he soured on the project.
“This is one of the most important areas of the Mediterranean Sea,” he said, noting that the European Union had recently designated much of the nearby area a marine preserve and that there is a nearby bird sanctuary on the coast. “It’s a hot spot of biodiversity.”
Other scientists are also concerned about the proposed wind farm. In a corner of a fish market in the nearby town of El Port de la Selva, Patricia Baena and Claudia Traboni, two marine biologists working for the Spanish government, were rehabilitating a type of soft coral that is often caught in fishing nets.
They say that while fishing in the area takes a toll on the coral, known as gorgonia, the effect of the wind farm could be worse, as the large underwater cables that anchor the turbines to the sea floor churn up silt and disrupt the fragile ecosystem beneath the waves.
“They are like trees in the forest,” said Ms. Baena. “If they disappear, then all of the biodiversity associated with them will disappear.”