The Society of Kytherian Studies believes that the citizens of Kythira and the Municipality, should jointly discuss the creation of an Energy Community that will rationally combine wind and solar energy as well as biomass energy production. In this way, it supports the initiatives taken so far by the Mayor and the Municipal Council.

The Society of Kytherian Studies is watching with intense skepticism and concern the issue that has been occupying Kythira in recent months regarding the installation and operation on the island of dozens of wind turbines of enormous dimensions, which will overturn any prospects for a balanced development, based on the protection of the landscape and the island way of life, the development of a mild tourist product and the revitalization of the primary sector; when in fact they will be located adjacent to settlements, Byzantine and post-Byzantine monuments, places of worship and memory of Kythira, the concern can only become more intense. This is a concern shared by Europa Nostra – the European voice of civil society dedicated to cultural and natural heritage – and its partner, the European Investment Bank Institute, which has included Kythera in the 12 most endangered cultural heritage sites in Europe, as they risk becoming “an industrial zone with wind farms”.

The initial positive reception of wind turbine by the global community then gave way to skepticism about what is really at stake and whether the effects of their installation and operation have been adequately studied. Questions and uncertainties are particularly acute in areas that depend to a large extent on their economic development on tourism, a sector which in turn maintains a host of other activities, seeking to extend the tourist season with mild/alternative forms of tourism (agritourism, ecotourism, geotourism, hiking tourism with focus on signposted trails, etc).

The opening of many kilometers of roads and the clearings that will be required, the deep installation of the wind turbine and the problems that may exist in the groundwater as well as in the surface runoff, the noise from their operation and the probable “Wind Turbine Syndrome” (WTS) that international studies claim to affect the health of people living near wind farms, the impact on construction activity and property values, the largely unknown effects on biodiversity, especially when important habitats are threatened, are of great concern to us.

We understand that the problems of climate change exist, however this fact should not lead to the transformation of the island into a vast Industrial Wind Farm.

For the Board of Directors of the Society of Kytherian Studies

The president

Ekaterini Aroni-Tsichli

Ohm. Professor of Panteion University

Source: https://adelinfm.blogspot.com/2021/01/blog-post_106.html