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and spatial organization at this level.
Regarding the content of these relations among RES and landscapes, the project
team chose to focus its study:
»
on wind energy production units, PVs and energy cultivation. The reasons
for this choice were: a) regarding wind, its relevantly low visual impact, b)
regarding PVs, their extended development in Greece, and mostly in rural
areas, c) regarding energy cultivations, their positive impact on landscape.
»
on the connection of the landscape with the development orientation of rural
areas (such as the Municipality of Almyros), which aims at the exploitation
of local natural and cultural resources with the terms of local identity and
development with spatial bonding. Within this framework, the landscapes
that should have been evaluated, were integrated on the basis of impacts
from the installation of RES units to their local resources (and their surround-
ings), as a reserve of potential development resources. In parallel, the project
team evolved, apart from the recognized Special Natural Beauty Landscapes
(SNBL) also other special landscapes of the area and also the landscapes
located in the “gates” of the area from land and sea.
The evaluation procedure was based on the formation of five (5) alternative
scenarios on the basis that much of the penetration levels of RES during the
next 10 years will conflict with the protection levels of the area’s landscapes.
The evaluation of the possible local disputes was based on local consultation
venues, during which the participants evaluated basic dimensions for each sce-
nario, specifically:
»
RES units’ power per category.
»
Visual Impact.
»
Placement of RES on the basis of the potential of each area (e.g. wind speed,
sunshine, cultivations’ return, etc).
