January 15, 2007
Cyprus
Cyprus
A Greek company has announced its local subsidiary had won production licenses to build new windparks in Cyprus, following last week’s EU energy report that showed the island fell short in the area of developing Renewable Energy Sources (RES).
Ch.Rokas ABEE’s subsidiary Rokas Aeoliki Cyprus Ltd will build four new windpower parks in Cyprus, giving a total power of 179.4 MW.
According to reports the €200 million project will be built in two stages.
The first will include the construction of windpower parks to be connected to Cyprus’ existing grid by the end of next year. The second stage will include building windpower parks to be connected to a new grid in the future.
Commenting on the news, Green party activist Roxanne Coudounari said: “We welcome the energy saving aspect provided it has gone through an environmental impact assessment process.”
However Coudounari echoed concerns expressed by Birdlife Cyprus that adopting wind power should not be made at the expense of biodiversity in a bid to halt global warming.
Last month Birdlife Cyprus manager Martin Hellicar told the Sunday Mail millions of birds’ lives were at risk if the location of the turbines was not right, as the would massacre birds who were no good at avoiding them, particularly in bad weather conditions.
“The turbines must not be located in bird flight corridors of migrating birds,” she said.
The EU energy report highlighted the fact electricity prices in Cyprus were higher than the EU average and had steadily increased since 1999. The report also commented on the island’s lack of motivation and failure to meet renewable energy production targets.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/01/15/cyprus-to-get-windfarms/