Accelerating the Deployment of Wind Farms in Greece, Latvia, and Poland

Accelerating the deployment of wind farms across Europe is necessary to deliver the Green Deal and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The transition to climate neutrality requires a shift in its economic model, a focus on renewable energy sources and the phase out fossil fuels. In this context, wind energy offers, perhaps, the highest potential for scaling up the renewable energy production as it can be readily exploited throughout the EU. However, the deployment rate of new wind farms in EU and Wind4Bio countries is currently much slower than the one foreseen in the EU and national strategies. 

In this context, Wind4Bio Project targeted at establishing a balanced approach that supports both renewable energy growth and biodiversity preservation by addressing biodiversity concerns throughout the lifecycle of wind farms and involving civil society in identifying and mitigating biodiversity threats.

Throughout its 2,5 years of implementation, Wind4Bio project developed two sets of best practices: 

• 14 best practices for increasing biodiversity protection at all stages of wind farms’ lifecycle, and 
• 9 best practices for improving collaboration between public authorities and civil society on environmental protection

Both sets of the best practices were presented in two series of national workshops held in Greece, Latvia and Poland (see full reports here and here). Over 120 stakeholders/participants attended the workshops, including representatives from ministries, regional and municipal authorities, wind energy associations, nature protection agencies, higher education institutions, NGOs, and civil society. Themes and discussions during the workshops tackled a wide range of issues, including:

• Better implementation of current technologies to mitigate the biodiversity risks.
• Integration of community involvement in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).
• Use of the biodiversity risk management framework to detect, assess, and reduce risks to biodiversity.
• Proper evaluation of the cumulative environmental impacts of wind farms in the EIAs. 
• Establishment of wind energy communities.
• Policy improvements for the enhancement of public engagement.
• Improvements in public participation procedures.
• Alleviate barriers for inclusive and sustainable speed-up of wind farm development.

One of the main recommendations mentioned in all national workshops was that public involvement should be extended beyond the EIAs to include all stages of the wind energy project lifecycle. In this way, public authorities can ensure that community concerns are continuously addressed, fostering a sense of ownership and long-term support for local wind energy projects. An efficient way to establish points of contact between civil society, public authorities and the business sector, is through online consultation mechanisms and forums. 

Following this recommendation, the Wind4Bio project developed a consultation mechanism, namely an online platform, that facilitates communication between environmental and civil society organisations regarding biodiversity threats in areas with wind farms. As a result, the consultation mechanism is expected to increase transparency and curb local opposition to wind energy projects by making the civil society an integral part of wind energy planning and biodiversity preservation. This mechanism was presented through national infodays and consensus building events to 71 participants, and was evaluated by the partners and stakeholders over a 4-months period. As a result, six (6) public authorities supported the use of the consultation mechanism as a  transformative process to improve climate change through wind energy. In addition, the online mechanism will be pilot tested by the Region of Western Greece (Greece) and Zemgale Planning Region (Latvia), in the framework of the Interreg Europe project BIOWIND.

The third series of national workshops took place during the last trimester of the project, and targeted mainly to business representatives. Their goal was to discuss the wind farm businesses’ approach and awareness regarding the importance of biodiversity throughout the lifecycle of wind power projects. Additionally, the Wind4Bio Code of Conduct was presented as a contribution to promoting a more responsible approach by businesses in relation to biodiversity. 44 participants in total, including 16 representatives from wind energy sector attended the workshops, concluding that it is crucial to establish a dialogue between environmental organisations, wind energy companies and the public to improve perceptions of wind energy. Following the workshops, 4 companies supported the main principles detailed in the Code of Conduct (i.e. environmental responsibility, sustainability, transparency, and continuous improvement) to adopt ecosystem and biodiversity protection measures, and agreed to put efforts to apply them to their day-to-day business strategies.

Our main outcomes in numbers:

• 1 study visit attended by 9 project members and 12 stakeholders
• 3 series of national workshops attended by 165 stakeholders in total
• 1 series of infodays attended by 71 stakeholders
• 2 good practice reports including 23 good practices
• 1 biodiversity risk management framework
• 1 online consultation mechanism supported by 4 public authorities and pilot tested by 2 regions
• 1 Code of Conduct supported by 4 wind energy sector companies 

It has been a long and difficult road, but we believe that Wind4Bio project has succeeded in bridging the gap between wind energy expansion and biodiversity preservation. With pilot testing of the consultation mechanism already underway and industry stakeholders getting informed on identified best practices, we hope that our project has laid a strong foundation for long-term impact by contributing to carbon neutrality by 2050.