The negative assessment of the Environment Ministry’s Directorate of Natural Environment and Biodiversity has essentially pulled the plug on plans for the construction of six wind farms in the pristine southern part of the central Aegean island of Skyros.
The body opined that the construction of the project will cause irreparable damage to protected bird species, such as the Eleonora’s falcon and Bonelli’s eagle, which will be at risk of being killed by impact with the wind turbines, daily kathimerini reported on Wednesday.
It further noted that Skyros is an important passage and stopover for migratory birds, as 102 species out of 173 recorded on the island are present in its skies during the migration period.
It also rejected the proposed installation of impact mitigation systems, stressing that the noise the turbines generate will lead to further displacement of species from their main habitats.
Locals on Skyros and in the neighboring island of Evia were reportedly surprised beginning of the month to learn that the proposal in the Natura protected area had come back after the rejections of proposals in 2006, 2020 and 2022.
According to daily avgi, the wind park would have 58 wind turbines in total.
“The first was in 2006 for the installation of 10 wind farms with 111 wind turbines. The non-acceptance of this proposal by the local community was universal and was expressed by many unanimous decisions of the Municipal Council, successive resolutions of popular assemblies, reactions of all agencies, even from the Region of Central Greece which rejected the relevant Environmental Impact Study.
Advertisement, SYRIZA MP Vangelis Apostolou said.
The second was in 2020, when the Energy Regulatory Authority accepted the proposal to update the investment, in terms of the number and size of the wind turbines, but maintaining the total power of 333 MW, which was rejected by the CoE.
The request from “Aeolitic Notiou Skyrou S.A.” came back for the third time. in March 2022, with the aim of including the new proposal in the strategic investments, having simultaneously reduced the number of wind farms and wind turbines, but enlarged their dimensions, since in fact their power is reduced by only 10%, i.e. from 333 at 300 MW.
They withdrew the request in order to overcome some problems and essentially repeated it for the fourth time, even after the negative opinions of bodies in charge such as the Environment Ministry, which they asked to propose compensatory measures.