Municipality of Paros: Legal actions against the planned industrial wind farms

The actions of the Municipality of Paros continue, regarding the halting of the onslaught of large RES investments, without rational planning, with new legal actions before the judiciary, but also with the communication of the Municipality's positions to the wider community of self-government.

Having already proceeded, since 2020, in filing applications for annulment to the competent judicial bodies, regarding the permits issued by the Energy Regulatory Authority and relating to the installation of Wind Power Plants (WPP), with a total capacity of 95 wind turbines, the Municipality of Paros, with the assistance of a lawyer, proceeds to file additional grounds for annulment, but also applications for review for two new planned investments, in addition to the above.

Legal actions continue for the Municipality of Paros

In particular, and with regard to the drafting and filing of the Additional Grounds for Annulment of the application for annulment of the contested decision No. AK393/10.3.2020 and AK394/10.3.2020 Applications for Annulment filed by the Municipality of Paros before the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal, it is recalled that Paros is challenging the production permits issued by the Energy Regulatory Authority for Wind Farms that are to be installed on the island of Paros and have been granted an environmental permit by the Minister of Environment and Energy through an Environmental Approval Decision (AEPO).

With this ministerial decision, the environmental conditions of the project «Wind Power Plants (WPP) with a total capacity of 218.5 MW (95 MW) and the accompanying projects» were approved, consisting of: «Skoumpi Wind Farm S.A.» with a capacity of 27,6 MW, «Vourlas Wind Farm S.A.« 32,2 MW, »Wind Farm Distomo S.A.« with a capacity of 36,8 MW, »Wind Farm Gorles S.A.«. with a capacity of 27,6 MW, »STRUMPULAS Wind Farm S.A.« with a capacity of 23 MW, »Folia Wind Farm S.A.« with a capacity of 20,7 MW, »Gagaris Wind Farm S.A.« with a capacity of 25,3 MW, on the islands of Naxos, Paros, Tinos and Andros, Prefecture of Cyclades, and the 150kV interconnection line between the wind farms and the Pallini substation, Prefecture of Attica.

The additional grounds for annulment, which the Economic Committee of the Municipality of Paros unanimously assigned to the lawyer, Mr. Tryphon Kollias, concern the following:

1. «Wind Farm of Gorles S.A.», consisting of twelve (12) wind turbines, with a total capacity of 27.6 MW, each turbine with a capacity of 2.3 MW and a total height of ninety-nine metres and fifty centimetres (99.50 m) at the locations «Korakas - Raches» of the Municipal Community of Paros of the Municipality of Paros and
2. «Stroumboulas Wind Farm S.A.», consisting of ten (10) wind turbines with a total capacity of 23 MW, each turbine with a capacity of 2.3 MW and a total height of ninety-nine meters and fifty centimeters (99.50 m) at the locations «Profitis Elias - Peristeri» of the Municipal Community of Paros of the Municipality of Paros.

The additional reasons will be filed before the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal by the lawyer, in coordination with the other affected islands, as originally decided.

Review applications for two more ASPHE installations

In addition to the aforementioned, the companies «Protonium Energy Community of Athens Ltd.» and “Mercury Energy M.I.K.E.” applications for the issuance of two producer certificates for eight additional wind turbines with a total capacity of 7,2 megawatts.

In order to exercise the legal remedies on behalf of the Municipality of Paros, these certificates must first be issued by RAE, so that there is then the possibility of an appeal to the competent Administrative Court of Appeal of Athens. Therefore, in the event that the certificates are issued by RAE, they will be challenged by the mandatory appeals, i.e. Applications for Review, on behalf of the Municipality of Paros to RAE, which, in order to be dealt with in a uniform manner, should be drafted by a lawyer experienced and specialised in environmental matters, who, exceptionally, should be appointed because of the importance of the issue for Paros, and who should also cooperate with the other municipalities that are opposed to the installation of wind turbines.

And the second part of the legal remedies to be exercised by the Municipality of Paros on the issue of wind turbines is entrusted to Mr. Kollias, who, as stated in the said decision, has a high level of specialisation and training in the issues of renewable energy sources and environmental licensing, which is essential given, on the one hand, the importance of the issue in question for the Municipality and, on the other hand, the particularly complex and complicated nature of the legal issues of environmental licensing at issue, which require specialised scientific knowledge and competence.

Clarifying the intentions of those who oppose the Pharaonic projects

In the context of the of the annual regular congress of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece, held in Thessaloniki, From 14 to 16 October, the European Parliament and the Network of Mayors for Sustainability, Balanced Development and Renewable Energy Sources».

Member of the Network, as well as many Mayors of the Cyclades, and the Mayor of Paros, Mr. Markos Kovaeos, placed himself before his colleagues from all over the country, in order to clarify the fact that the Cyclades are in no way opposed to renewable energy sources or sustainable energy, but to exploitation, unsustainability and environmental degradation, as he stressed.

The Network, which consists of 32 mayors from all over the country who face the problem of installing wind turbines in their municipalities, issued a resolution which was submitted to the Plenary Session of the KEDE Congress, in order to take decisions.

The mayors involved in the initiative reiterated once again that they are not against renewable energy sources, but in favour of an integrated energy strategy based on real needs and rational spatial planning, with protection of the specific characteristics and respect for the economic, cultural and environmental reality of the individual municipalities.

The Mayor of Paros, Mr. Markos Kovaeos, stated that «the Parian and Cycladic people are not opposed to RES, but to exploitation and to unscrupulousness. In particular, the installation of industrial wind farms is not appropriate in Paros, as they will irreparably alter the traditional character and natural beauty of the island, while at the same time affecting the main source of income of the island's inhabitants, which is tourism. In this context, it is clear that renewable energy projects, when they are not implemented in an organised manner, with planning and with the consent of the local community, have the opposite effect to that which they seek.

The Network's meeting was also attended by the Network's legal advisor and expert in European Law, Mr. Michael Angelopoulos, former Mayor of Samos, who informed about the Mayors' Petition for the Aegean Islands to the European Union, which will be submitted in the next few days, with the funding of the Aegean Regional Council.