Wind farms take up more space than global average

Wind farms in Greece take up 3.5 times more land than the global average because they are mainly built on steep mountainsides, which demand far greater infrastructure, according to a  study carried out by the Biodiversity Conservation Laboratory of Ioannina University with funding from Natural Environment & Climate Change Agency (NECCA).

More specifically, they correspond to 7,729 square meters per MW of energy produced.

Tellingly, one third of Greek wind farms necessitated the construction of 116 kilometers of new roads in the last 20 years while another 157 km of existing roads were widened.

The study concerned the footprint of wind farms on the ground, i.e. the space ultimately occupied by the turbines together with their accompanying infrastructure.

It scrutinized 90 wind farms, which were built in Greece from 2002-2020.