JOINT PRESS RELEASE
A One-Way Path to protect the critical habitat of the Griffon Vulture and the integrity of the Energy Communities Institution
Twenty-two Environmental Organizations have sent a joint letter to the authorities and bodies involved in the licensing of 15 Wind Farms in the Acarnanian Mountains, requesting the revocation of all licenses issued to date. The request is based on recent revelations that, although these wind farms are presented as “Energy Community” projects (and have benefited from the relevant legal framework), they are in fact controlled and managed by a large Cypriot corporation.
The letter outlines the licensing history of the 15 projects and raises key issues regarding their legality:
First, although the law prohibits individuals or legal entities from participating in more than one Energy Community with the same purpose in the same region, the Cypriot company AIMS32 CORPORATION LIMITED is involved in seven such communities through companies in which it is the sole shareholder.
Second, since the Boards of Directors of the seven Energy Communities – which serve as the entities behind the 15 wind farms – are entirely controlled by a single company, the 15 wind farms should be considered a single, large-scale project under unified management. As such, the environmental impact should have been assessed as a Category A1 project from the beginning, rather than being fragmented into 15 supposedly independent “small” Category B projects.
The letter also emphasizes the political stakes of the case, calling on the relevant authorities to take a position: whether it is acceptable for Energy Communities to be used as vehicles for corporate manipulation and to bypass proper licensing procedures – resulting in outcomes that completely contradict the spirit and philosophy behind the founding legislation of Energy Communities.
The position of the 22 Environmental Organizations is that revoking the licenses is absolutely necessary to protect the critical habitat of vultures, ensure proper application of renewable energy project licensing law, enable a thorough cumulative impact assessment of all planned projects, and safeguard both the credibility of Energy Communities and fair competition in the renewable energy sector. Under this perspective, such a move is the only viable path for the responsible administrative services – assuming they possess the basic reflexes to counter unfair practices related to these projects, which have already been definitively deemed unacceptable and harmful not only by the organizations but by the broader environmental movement as well.
Read the full letter and see the 22 signatories here (in Greek).