A CLUSTER OF Power plants in northwestern Greece have been spewing smoke and toxic ash into neighboring villages for decades. The factories are fueled by lignite, a dirty brown coal from surface mines that scares the local countryside. Studies have shown that mining communities suffer from above-average rates of lung disease and cancer, but jobs in other sectors are scarce in a region where unemployment is chronic.
Changes may be underway. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the new center-right Prime Minister, has promised to close all 14 lignite power plants in Greece by 2024. (Another lignite station currently under construction will be converted to run on natural gas.) The fleets wind turbines and solar panels will be deployed in the rehabilitated mining areas. Mitsotakis is keen to strengthen the green powers of Greece: at present, its annual carbon equivalent emissions are one third higher than those of Portugal, a country of similar size. EU Member state.
Despite being blessed with abundant sunshine and strong winds that blow year-round across the Aegean Sea, Greece is still lagging behind clean energy. This is mainly due to PPC, the electric utility, which stuck to lignite to save money, rather than switching to natural gas and renewable energy. In 2017, around 70% of households and businesses consumed electricity produced in PPCLignite power plants. This year, the figure could fall to 50%: small private suppliers who operate natural gas plants have recruited fleeing customers PPC after Mr. Mitsotakis’ government increased its electricity prices.
The Prime Minister has set himself a remarkably ambitious goal: renewable sources will cover 35% of Greece’s energy needs by 2030. This would mean tripling current wind and solar production, at a cost of around 40 billion euros ($ 44 billion). The consultants are planning a windfall for foreign investors: Chinese, American, Spanish and Italian companies already own Greek wind and solar installations and acquire licenses to build more.
Curiously, they will face strong opposition from Greece’s increasingly active environmental movement. It takes up to seven years for a license to be granted for a wind farm; many requests are rejected by specialized judges of the Council of State, the highest legal authority in Greece.
Battles are hovering over plans to allow the construction of offshore wind farms in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, while increasing the size of the land parks. Greece’s environment is “too fragile” to support such large projects, says Apostolos Pantelis, a hiker campaigning against plans to build wind farms on mountain ridges in the remote area of Agrafa, a refuge for the rare griffon vultures, brown bears and wolves.
An increasing number of hikers, mostly wealthy northern Europeans, are visiting places like Agrafa thanks to a new system for marking trails across mainland Greece and the islands. They stay in small hotels in almost deserted villages, which gives hope that these places can be revived as destinations for “soft” tourism.
Pantelis is concerned that building wind farms will destroy Agafra’s appeal. New roads would erode the sides of the mountains and noisy turbines 200 meters high would scare away its wildlife. He says that “people thought wind power would benefit tourism. But it just ruins the view. ” ■
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the title “Greening Greece”
