habitar-o-baleiro-blanco-607x200
Instagram Icon-facebook

MULTIMEDIA

Muras, where the wind turns

In the place with the highest number of wind turbines in all of Galicia, Muras (Lugo), 576 residents live, according to the 2025 INE (Spanish national statistics institute), with a record figure of 381 wind turbines. What would seem to be a source of income and energy does not, in reality, yield proportional benefits for the residents of this small municipality of 163 square kilometers compared to the profits of renewable energy companies. Years ago, the local council implemented a measure allowing municipality residents to receive a discount on their electricity bills.
Muras, the municipality of wind turbines
Muras, the municipality of wind turbines - Muras is the Galician municipality with the most wind turbines. Fewer than 600 people live in a territory of just over 163 square kilometers where around 380 windmills stand: more than one for every two residents. Wind energy is part of the landscape, the economy, and also the debate on the future of rural areas. - Image: Brais Lorenzo
A shrinking territory
A shrinking territory - Muras has one of the lowest population densities in Galicia: around 3.5 inhabitants per square kilometer. Population loss has turned much of its landscape into a territory of small villages, livestock farms, and isolated houses. Above them, wind turbines occupy the mountain peaks. - Image: Brais Lorenzo
21 wind farms, 381 wind turbines
21 wind farms, 381 wind turbines - In the mountains of Muras, there are 21 wind farms and around 381 wind turbines. The installation of the first windmills began in the mid-1990s and has since transformed the municipality's landscape. Today, for the local residents, the wind is simultaneously a source of income, an economic activity, and a permanent presence in the territory. - Image: Brais Lorenzo
Wind turbines inside the Natura 2000 Network
Wind turbines inside the Natura 2000 Network - The concentration of wind farms also reaches areas of high environmental value: 14 of the 21 wind farms in Muras are fully or partially located within the Natura 2000 network, coexisting with wild flora and fauna. The Habitar o baleiro report published by Sermos Galiza (https://habitarobaleiro.gal/en/the-countryside-swept-by-the-wind-and-a-wind-energy-plan-up-in-the-air) shows a municipality at the center of a debate that goes beyond the landscape: what is coexistence with wind turbines like, which areas should accommodate new infrastructure, and how can energy production be made compatible with biodiversity? - Image: Brais Lorenzo
A lot of wind, few people
A lot of wind, few people - Muras produces a massive amount of energy in a territory that continues to lose inhabitants. Although a direct causal relationship cannot be established between the installation of wind turbines and depopulation, it is worth analyzing the effect on the territory of living around large wind energy infrastructure that generates constant noise, where fewer and fewer people remain. - Image: Brais Lorenzo
A transformed landscape
A transformed landscape - In the highest parishes of Muras, wind turbines coexist with homes, churches, pastures, and livestock farms. In the village landscape, rural heritage and windmills are now part of the same scene. For some families, the wind farms brought income from land leases or the ability to drive through the mountains due to new tracks opened by the energy companies; for others, their proximity to homes fuels discontent over the visual and spatial impact. - Image: Brais Lorenzo
The Muras paradox
The Muras paradox - Muras is one of the places that best represents the contradictions of rural Galicia: a territory that generates wealth from its natural resources while losing inhabitants. Wind energy brought significant revenue to municipal coffers and landowning families, but it did not solve the demographic problem. Muras dropped from 600 inhabitants in 2022 to 576 in 2025, according to the INE, and that number shows no signs of growing in the near future. - Image: Brais Lorenzo
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore
  • Sun - Sat : 9:00 AM - 16:00 PM
  • contact@domain.com
  • (+62) 8132 521 438
Icon-facebook Twitter Instagram
Skip to content