Editor’s Note
This article highlights a local conflict in Trujillo, Spain, where residents support a new factory and its jobs but oppose the visual impact of the necessary high-voltage power lines. It underscores a common tension between industrial development and landscape preservation.
Residents of Trujillo (Cáceres) have an issue with the installation of the pylons that will carry electricity to the synthetic diamond factory that the company Diamond Foundry Europe will build in the area, and in which actor Leonardo DiCaprio is an investor.
They claim they are not unhappy with the factory itself, which by November 2024 will have created 120 direct jobs, increasing to 300 when its construction is completed in 2027. The issue is aesthetic. The high-voltage towers and cabling are being erected in El Berrocal, a landscape highly valued by the people of Trujillo, who have asked the company to consider the option of burying the installation.
She also reiterated that the business proposal has been “declared of public interest” by the Junta de Extremadura and has favorable environmental authorizations.
The Trujillo factory is scheduled to begin operations in 2025, according to the company’s own forecasts, with a total production reaching up to 10 million carats of synthetic diamonds intended for traditional jewelry and the semiconductor industry.
The flagship product is the monocrystalline diamond wafer, whose qualities favor “the performance of next-generation semiconductors in cloud and artificial intelligence computing, 5G and 6G communications, and the electric car industry.”
The company also highlights that “this foundry will be one of the world’s first industrial projects powered entirely by solar electricity.” Therefore, just a few days ago, after receiving permits for the construction of the plant and the power supply line, the company has begun the process to commission a photovoltaic plant that will supply electrical energy for the operation of the facility.