The Fight Against the Windmills

Docu­men­ta­ry
´26, WDR/arte, 2007

Nor­way is plan­ning one of the lar­gest off­shore wind farms in Euro­pe with over 300 wind tur­bi­nes off its west coast. The pic­tures­que area around the city of Åle­sund with its islands is threa­tened by this major pro­ject. Initi­al­ly, the con­struc­tion of the wind tur­bi­nes was sup­por­ted, but then the inha­bi­tants of Åle­sund orga­ni­zed a refe­ren­dum against the gigan­tic wind farm, which is to lead the sta­te of Nor­way out of the ener­gy cri­sis. The west coast of Nor­way is one of the win­diest regi­ons in Euro­pe. When the autumn storms begin in Octo­ber, wind speeds up to 120 kilo­me­ters per hour are not uncom­mon. On the west coast is the city of Åle­sund, with the islands Godøy, Val­derøy and Alnes.

The film tells of the worries of the resi­dents regar­ding the plan­ned wind farm. For the tea­cher and fisher­man Arne Tun­heim and the musi­ci­an Runa Godø Sæther the wind tur­bi­nes would be a dis­as­ter. The untouched natu­re and the open view of the sea means ever­ything to them, that’s the rea­son why they live the­re. Both are opti­mistic that they will win the batt­le against the wind tur­bi­nes, becau­se in Nor­way, local demo­cra­cy has a long tra­di­ti­on and a high prio­ri­ty. The Oslo government has never over­ru­led the decisi­on of a referendum.

 

Credits:

Script/Director: Kat­ja Duregger
Film edi­t­ing: Vol­ker Gehrke
Came­ra: Tho­mas Kutschker
Sound: André Pfen­nig
Head of Production: Cor­ne­lia Kellers
Exe­cu­ti­ve Producer: Ana­hi­ta Nazemi
Pro­du­cer: Gerd Haag
Com­mis­sio­ning Editor: Andrea Ernst, WDR/arte