At the end of June 2024, a fierce wildfire tore through the Cycladic island of Serifos, scorching several hectares of land and causing substantial damage. Posts began circulating on social media in Greece soon afterwards suggesting a possible connection to a project by industrial conglomerate Mytilineos to build dozens of wind turbines on the island. But the claims are misleading. Those plans date back to 2007 and have since been abandoned. There are currently no plans for a wind farm on the island, according to both the local mayor and the Regulatory Authority for Energy in Greece.
On June 29, 2024, a wildfire broke out on the island of Serifos, which was only brought under control the following morning. The fire damaged houses, cottages, warehouses and chapels in the southern part of the island.
Almost immediately afterwards, posts began circulating on social networks, linking the fire to an old wind turbine construction project on Serifos. “Serifos reduced to ashes in order to install 87 wind turbines of Mytilineos #Green_Development”, reads one Facebook post from June 30, 2024, shared over 1,100 times since.
The post contains a collage of three article headlines that read: “Serifos says ‘no’ to gigantic wind farm”, “Nightmare of fire in Serifos” and “Big fire in Serifos”.
In the comments, many users claimed that the fire was linked to the construction of a wind farm. “Shameful in the face of profit they take nothing into account…we’re in trouble…”, wrote one.
Similar posts were also spotted on Facebook here and here.
However, such claims are misleading. Plans to build dozens of wind turbines on the island date back more than a decade-and-a-half and have long been abandoned, and no new project is currently underway.
An abandoned wind farm project from 2007
An advanced online search for one of the headlines in the post led to an article from the daily newspaper Kathimerini, dated April 4, 2007 (archived here).
The article states that the Mytilineos Group, now Metlen, planned to build a total of 87 wind turbines on Serifos, but that the island’s municipal council saw the project as a “nightmare scenario” and had sent a petition of opposition to the Regulatory Authority for Waste, Energy and Water (RAAEY).
Then, according to an article in the daily Ta Nea on April 18, 2024, the then Minister of the Environment, Urban Planning and Public Works, Giorgos Souflias, slammed the brakes on the project (archived here).
In an email dated July 11, 2024, Metlen spokeswoman, Antigone Fakou, told AFP that the company had indeed submitted six applications for wind power generation licences on the island in 2006 (archived here).
“However, in 2008, with the adoption of the special zoning plan for renewable energy sources (RES), the load capacity defined for the island made it virtually impossible to install the project. Metlen therefore abandoned the investment”, she wrote.
That year, the Greek government approved a specific planning framework for the development of renewable energies (archived here).
Fakou insisted that Metlen had nothing to do with wildfires or any degradation of the natural landscape. “The company always ensures that it gives value back to the local communities where it operates, with respect for the environment and the community,” she said.
Data available on the website of the regulatory authority RAAEY, consulted by AFP, confirms that there are no wind turbines in operation nor any wind farm projects on Serifos.
RAAEY is responsible for the authorisation of the construction and operation of energy production facilities throughout the whole of Greece. Their map (archived here) shows the locations of wind farms currently in operation, the permits granted for future wind farms and the permits that have been rejected by the authority, across the whole country, up to July 10, 2024.
Screenshot showing the island of Serifos, from the RAAEY map online. Image capture: 10/07/2024
Red lines are visible on the map, showing a wind farm project that has been rejected, with no company identified.
AFP contacted RAAEY for comment but no response was forthcoming at time of publication.
In a telephone interview with AFP on July 10, 2024, the current mayor of the island of Serifos, Konstantinos Revinthis, also explained that in 2007, a project to install wind turbines had provoked an outcry on the island. “However, the project came to nothing and no wind turbines were installed,” he said.
The mayor also pointed out that there are currently no wind turbines on Serifos, and to his knowledge no plans for their installation are currently envisaged.
“The fire that ravaged our island in the south has no connection with the installation of wind turbines on Serifos”, he said.
The Facebook posts claim that the island “has been reduced to ashes”. However, satellite photographs from the European Space Agency (ESA) show that part of the island to the south has burned:
Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite image (European Space Agency) showing traces of the fire that burned the southern part of the island of Serifos in June 2024. Image download: 11/07/2024.
The area affected does not correspond to the areas shown on the RAAEY map where a wind farm project was submitted and rejected.
In Greece, both the development of wind farms and wildfires are regular topics of disinformation on social networks. AFP has debunked related misleading claims before, for example here and here.
Disaster, Environment, Fact Check
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Originally published here.
