Wind turbines
in Natura 2000 sites, Greece

Some facts

3503 out of 10982 or about 1 out of 3 (~32%) licensed wind turbines in Greece are inside a protected Natura 2000 site (data from RAE and the European Environmental Agency)

Greece was convicted in 2020 by the European court for failing to protect Natura 2000 sites since 2012 (source)

Five southern Aegean islands are in Europa Nostra's 2021 list of 7 most endangered heritage sites in Europe due to the extensive installation of wind turbines in protected Natura 2000 and archaeological sites (source)

Greece has no independent authority for conducting studies on the environmental impact of wind turbine installations (source)

The quality of many environmental impact studies (performed solely by private individuals of questionable independence) is very poor, with sloppy work, wrong area names, copy-paste errors from previous studies (source, source)

The Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy has been licensing wind turbines without having in its disposal the necessary maps to determine whether their location complies with Greek law in terms of proximity to settlements and archaeological sites (source by Greek MP)

The Greek government has passed legislation that makes environmental impact studies unnecessary for installations below 10mW, making it possible to have big installations by braking them up in parts smaller than 10mW (source)

The Greek government has passed legislation that weakens even further the protection of Natura 2000 sites (source), making it easier to install wind turbines in them, causing an outcry by 29 Greek environmental NGOs representing over 1.000.000 Greek citizens (source by Greek MP)

The Greek government has passed legislation to bypass local municipal council resolutions for licensing wind turbines