Ecologies of Promise: Rethinking Energy Futures in Southeastern Sicily

Abstract (English)

This paper presents an ethnographic case study of Priolo Gargallo in southeastern Sicily, home to Italy’s first Archimede solar thermal plant. Situated in a region scarred by decades of petrochemical industries and environmental decline, the introduction of renewable energy promised a future of ecological renewal. However, the promise of a “green” transition remains elusive, often disconnected from local socio-environmental realities.
Through the metaphor of “parabolic mirrors,” this paper explores the inherent contradictions of the renewable energy transition. Rather than fostering inclusive, just futures, large-scale energy transition projects often exacerbate the frustrations they were intended to resolve. The contestation over land use, resource ownership, and local political power reveals how renewable energy systems are re-imagined, contested, and even resisted by local communities. These dynamics raise a crucial question: do energy transition projects truly deliver on their promises, or do they merely defer ecological regeneration into an ever-receding horizon, reinforcing the extractive logics they were supposed to dismantle?
At the heart of the solar "mirage"—the ideal of clean, affordable energy—local communities in Priolo Gargallo navigate a complex terrain of hopes, disillusionments, and projections toward the future. These reactions are not linear or unified but emerge in fragmented, sometimes contradictory ways. As these local imaginaries unfold, they shed light on the gap between the global discourse of green energy and the lived experiences of those most affected by it.