Under 0.06% of the reforestable land in the country is occupied by wind farms, while occupancy rate is reduced to 0.02% if only the wind farms who settled after the fire.

This is the main conclusion of a study published by the Hellenic Wind Energy Scientific Association ELETAENwhich states that in this way it is proved that it does not exist no association of fires with wind turbines and is refuted by the data, h inaccurate suspicion circulating on the internet that “where land burns, wind turbines grow”.

The study is based on the publicly available geospatial data of validated forest maps and the Copernicus program.

At the same time, ELETAEN published a list of answers to an equal number of questions (good faith and bad faith) circulating on the internet, according to which:

  • The installation of wind turbines is allowedconditionally, within forest lands according to Constitution, the law and the Council of State. In other words, there is no reason to destroy the forest area to do something that is already allowed.
  • Conversely, the destruction of a forested area by fire makes it difficult, in terms of permitting and construction, to install wind turbines and their associated projects and offers no advantage (financial, technical or otherwise) during construction or operation.
  • Wind farms contribute to the protection of the local forest environment. For example, the released text includes examples of wind farm road construction being used to extinguish adjacent fires.
  • Wind farms are required and perform reforestation of an area equal to that occupied by or equivalent forestry projects in areas indicated by the forestry authorities. These reforestations are in addition to the restoration of the lands in their settlement locations.
  • The road construction of the wind farms is planned according to the instructions of the forest services and approved by them so that it can be integrated into the operational planning of the fire and forestry service and the management of forests and forest lands.