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Press release on the distribution of the electric space in the island of Crete

With the joint initiative of the Minoan Energy Community and the Region of Crete, a meeting was held on Friday 21 July in the Region of Crete.

The main topic of the discussion was the distribution of the island's electric space and the problems arising from the existing situation, regarding the structured licensing of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) projects.

The overall available energy space in Crete, given the limitations imposed by the transmission capacity of interconnection cables and the licensing process, is estimated to not exceed 1 GW for wind farms and 1 GW for photovoltaic stations. This limits the possibility of siting new RES projects by the island's own citizens.

The proposal formulated during the discussion is that the majority of the island's electric space in all forms of RES utilization projects should be given to the residents of Crete, at a rate that cannot be lower than 60% of the current power announcement.

In order to make this possible, it was recognized the necessity to revoke the 2 wind farm licenses, each with an initial capacity of 1 GW, in whatever form they have been configured to date, and to reject all the applications of large capacity that remain under evaluation for a period of more than 10 years, violating a number of provisions in the current legislation and also any concept of logic. It should be noted that with a provocative and offensive to the dignity of the Cretan people legislative regulation from July 2021, the two aforementioned licenses are given the possibility to be implemented, freeing them from their initial obligation to undertake themselves, at their own expense and as integral part of the whole project, the electrical interconnection of the island with the mainland system of the country, on the basis of which they were exempted from the relevant competitive procedures and licensed. Given that Crete has now been connected to the continental system at the expense of the Greek people, any development other than the revocation of these two licenses is a flagrant violation of the country's democratic institutions and the abolition of any concept of equality, meritocracy and justice.

At the initiative of the Regional Governor, all the necessary contacts will be made with the relevant government officials in order to resolve this major problem for the future of Crete and the fair energy transition.

The working meeting was included in the framework of the project with the acronym WENDY of the European Commission in which the Minoan Energy Community participates, with the main objective of the active involvement of residents in the development of new wind farm projects and the gradual cultivation of positive public opinion about wind farms.

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