New RES spatial plan to include stricter installation rules

Stricter RES spatial plan rules being prepared for renewable energy project installations include a number of zoning prohibitions and new restrictions.

The new rules, included in a study that has been drafted by environmental authorities and forwarded to the energy ministry for evaluation, feature a more stringent approach concerning the installation of solar energy facilities, while the number of wind priority areas, acronymed PAP, have been increased to a total of 68, nationwide.

Of these, 32 percent are situated in Crete, which has been incorporated into the country’s RES spatial plan for the first time.

A total of 68 municipalities are included in the RES spatial plan as wind priority areas, 22 of these in Crete. The island’s Heraklion prefecture tops the Cretan list with 15 PAP areas, followed by Chania, with three, and Rethymno and Lasithi, listed with two apiece.

Greece’s Macedonia region in the country’s north ranks second with 16 municipalities on the PAP list, followed by Evia (12), mainland Greece (7), eastern Macedonia and Thrace (7), the Peloponnese (2) and Epirus (2).

Zoning prohibitions have been imposed on a total of 13 areas, including nine mountain ranges without roads, these being Lefka Ori in western Crete; Mount Saos on Samothrace; Mount Smolikas in Ioannina; Grevena, northern Greece; Mount Tymfi in northwestern Greece; Mount Taygetus, in the southern Peloponnese; Mount Chatzi, part of the Pindus mountain range in northwestern Greece; Agrafa in mainland Greece; and Mainalo in the central Peloponnese.

The plan also includes zoning prohibitions for wind farm installations at areas of particular natural beauty, Natura 2000 network habitats, Ramsar Convention wetlands, and areas associated with tourism development.

 

Alexandroupoli offshore wind farms given RES priority status

Offshore wind farms planned to be introduced in Greece as a pilot program off Alexandroupoli, in the country’s northeast, will be developed through an EU go-to-areas formula designed to accelerate green-energy project development as a means of ending Europe’s reliance on natural gas as soon as possible.

A local draft bill incorporating this European formula, which has been adopted in Greece for the first time for the Alexandroupoli offshore wind farms, was submitted to Greek Parliament yesterday as a “RES First Choice Areas” initiative.

As stipulated in the draft bill, RES priority areas must be located beyond areas offered environmental protection through the EU’s Natura 2000 network. In addition, these areas will be approved by Presidential Decree.

Go-to-area RES projects will be exempted from the environmental permitting process and a special ecological assessment procedure.

For the time being, Alexandroupoli is Greece’s only area to have been awarded RES priority status.