Resolution against unauthorised establishment industrial wind farms, of pharaonic proportions, deposits the Mayors' Network for Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in Central Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece (K.E.D.E.).
With the resolution, the Network of Mayors asks the KEDE to set up a special independent committee for the development of RES in our country. The present resolution will be submitted to the KEDE congress in order to initiate the next actions of the Network.
The resolution states:
«The Network of Mayors for Renewable Energy Sources, which was established about a year ago and consists of mayors from all over Greece who face a problem mainly installation of wind turbines in their municipalities, in an effort to constantly expand its capacity with the participation of mayors from all over Greece, who are facing the the threat of the widespread installation of giant wind turbines on the islands and the important mountainous areas, held a meeting today, Friday, October 15, 2021 at 11:00 a.m., in the context of the KEDE conference in Thessaloniki (14-16/10/2021) and submits the following resolution for a decision to be taken at the conference.
In an earlier (10/11/2020) meeting via teleconference of the members of the Mayors' Network, with the participation and support of the President of KEDE, Dimitris Papastergios, it was agreed in principle that it is absolutely necessary, in the context of the climate change phenomenon, to have a national energy plan that will exploit RES in their entirety, and not a policy oriented almost exclusively to wind turbines and solar panels.
However, the central administration proceeded with the development, installation and licensing of wind turbines without an integrated energy strategy based on the real energy needs and a rational spatial planning, the protection of our particular characteristics and the economic, cultural and environmental reality of our municipalities.
These fragmented, irrational and large-scale interventions have been or are being attempted in our municipalities, ignoring or even circumventing decisions of municipal councils, without any prior consultation with municipal authorities, bodies and citizens, without taking into account approved local spatial plans or European institutions and decisions, forcing local communities to acquiesce and often comply with choices with heavy economic, social and environmental costs.
However, despite the fact that it is accepted that renewable energy plants are a requirement in the context of the green energy transition, we find in many cases that the reactions are based on legitimate demands.
It is worth noting that even today, according to official data from RAE (June and September 2021), applications have been submitted for a certificate of renewable energy production for projects with a total capacity of 117.45 GW (17.45 GW in June alone). It is known that the installed capacity in our country was 19.4 GW in 2020.
Our Network's position is that in order to break the current deadlock, it is necessary to cultivate a fertile ground for constructive dialogue between Municipalities and the central administration, so that in an environment of transparency and democracy, reliable and well-founded proposals can be sought.
In any case, the crucial project is the elaboration of an integrated spatial planning that will constitute a structured and integrated national energy strategy, in cooperation with the country's municipalities, taking into account the following critical parameters:
The specific historical, cultural and aesthetic characteristics of the landscapes of our municipalities, the carrying capacity of our regions, many of which are oversaturated, and the balance between small energy benefits and great environmental damage.
In this context we ask:
- Stop issuing new production licences as the existing ones have overwhelmingly exceeded the requirements.
- Evaluate ALL the permits that have not been implemented so far, and select which projects can continue, based on social, environmental, economic and cultural criteria.
- Areas that already have a large contribution to the country's energy balance, and areas where there are already large RES installations, to be excluded from further installations.
- Prohibition of siting wind farms in areas of particular natural beauty (Natura, archaeological sites, reforested areas, etc.) or areas of intense tourist development.
In any case, the consent of the Municipalities and the Region, through their institutions, should be a non-negotiable element of licensing.
The network of Mayors is an independent entity, outside and beyond party affiliations, with a clear goal and orientation to prevent the uncontrolled, unregulated and oversized installation of wind turbines in our municipalities, using all tools to protect the goodwill of our land, to contribute to the drafting of an environmentally sustainable proposal, to interconnect with each other and with the European Network, to coordinate our actions and finally to interconnect the dominant will of our local communities.
We ask the KEDE to set up a special independent committee for the development of RES in our country.
The present resolution will be submitted to the KEDE Congress in order to initiate the next actions of the Network.
Thessaloniki, Friday 15 October 2021
THE MAYORS - MEMBERS OF THE NETWORK
SARONIKOU Peter Philip
LYREOTIKI Dimitrios Luke
AGRAFON Alexander Kardampikis
PLASTIRA LAKE Panagiotis Nanos
SKYROS Nikolaos Mavrikos
TINOU Ioannis Siotos
ANDRU Dimitrios Lotzaris
Agios Vasileiou RETHYMNIS Ioannis Tatarakis
ASTYPALAIAS Nicholas Comeneas
MILLOU Emmanuel Mikelis
Naxos Dimitrios Lianos
PAROU Markos Kovaeus
CHIKINOU Basil Marakis
FOLEGANDRU Evthalia Papadopoulou
AMORGOU Eleftherios Karaiskos
METEORON Theodoros Alekos
South Pelion Michael Mitzikos
ARGITHEAS Andreas Stergios
KARDITSA Vassilios Tsiakos
ANAFIS Iakovos Roussos
IOU Gikas Gikas
XYLOKASTROY Vlassis Siotos
KYTHIRON Efstratios Harhalakis
MESSEAPION DIFFYON Georgios Psathas
SAMIS Gerasimos Gerasimos Monias Neti
SAMOTHRAKIS Nikolaos Galatumos
MONEMBASIA Hercules Trichilis
DODONES Christos Dakaletsis
METSOVOU Konstantinos Tzafeas
ZAGORIOU Georgios Sukuvelos
KIMOLOU Konstantinos Ventouris»
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