The Tierra de Campos region, in the heart of the province of Palencia, is a small paradise. Travel guides praise this patch of land dotted with castles, churches and dovecotes as the “Granary of Spain.” But a threat looms over these picture-postcard towns: they empty at high speed. There are fewer and fewer farmers sowing seeds in this important national pantry, where nature is carefully preserved and the fields have been worked since time immemorial.
Each publication by the National Institute of Statistics on the registry is a blow to the future prospects of this region. But in the list of populations that are in danger of falling into oblivion, a happy anomaly stands out: this is the case of Navas wallsa town about 20 kilometers from Palencia that not only resists depopulation, but has managed to increase the number of inhabitants by more than 120 peoples who have moved there in the last two years.
The trick? They knew how to see a golden opportunity in clean energywhich the neighbors have taken advantage of for their economic, cultural and social development. “The Paredes de Nava City Council has invested very heavily in recent years in renewables, and we already have two wind farms in operation,” explains Luis Antonio Calderón, mayor of the municipality. The implementation of windmills “linked to the territory where that energy is produced” has made it possible to carry out “parallel projects in the field of culture, repopulation and agri-food,” lists the mayor.
One of these initiatives has been the launch of a Repopulation Office which allows intermediation between people who want to leave the city to live in a town and the labor needs in the area. Yolanda Díez, head of this office, reveals that for her, this project is “very important”, because “thanks to it, the town is not going to disappear as is happening in other towns in Castilla y León.”
Since its opening, different people and profiles that did not exist before have landed, such as Sergio García, Cuban poetwho moved to Paredes de Nava with his family in 2022. “What made me most fall in love with the town is its first landscape, which is the people,” he says. In fact, García’s latest book is about renewable energy and includes a poem titled Ode to the millor, which highlights how “a single man or a single mill will not bring hope, but the union of many.”
The landing of new Pareños and Pareñas has had a great impact: they have opened 6 new businessesthe number of schoolchildren has increased, housing rentals have been activated, properties have been revalued and a mobility program with municipal electric vehicles has been created.
This decisive commitment to renewables as an engine of change has earned the Paredes de Navas City Council the Iberdrola Convive Award 2024 in the category of Local Entities and Citizen Participation, which they received last Wednesday. These awards seek to publicly recognize the best initiatives that promote the harmonious coexistence of renewable energies, people and nature.
The awards gala took place in a more than conducive environment: the new Jorge Manrique Performing Arts Center in Paredes de Nava, which, since 2023, has been operating thanks to collaboration between administrations, with participation by the Government of Spain, the Board of Castilla y León, the Provincial Council of Palencia and the City Council, whose contribution was able to be made through the new income from renewables.
During the presentation of these awards, the president of Iberdrola, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, pointed out that the energy company aims to supply clean and sustainable energy while generating employment in the rural world. «Paredes de Nava is a town that, thanks to the Encinilla wind farm, has become an example for Spain of the benefits that clean energy “they have for employment, training, industrial and technological development,” he celebrated, before congratulating them “for making it possible.”
La Serna, the first town to install solar panels
Paredes de Nava shared the Convive Award with the town council of La Serna, a small town of 90 inhabitants 50 km north of the capital of Palencia. “In this town we all believe that the future lies in renewable energies,” adds Vicente Pérez, former councilor. “In fact, our solar park was the first in the province.” This dates back to 20 years ago, when the city council and neighbors developed this project, with an investment of more than 3 million euros.
Currently, the residents of this town are carrying out an open energy community, located on the roof of an agricultural warehouse. Their work has already created direct and indirect jobs. “If this helps other towns notice us, it means that we are doing something right,” celebrates Cristina Martín, a resident of La Serna, “and we are very proud of it.”