On Tuesday 21st of February, we had the pleasure of hosting the students from the multi-country study abroad program “Semester at Sea” and discuss about Environmental Ethics. The first stop was the Orites Windfarm, with Neofytos Konstantinou giving us a tour and explaining in detail the operations of the wind farm.
Next stop was the Pissouri Photovoltaic Park (PV), where members of our team talked about how PV parks can interfere with nature and affect biodiversity.
After having lunch at a local tavern, Haris Stylianidis, a member of the Community Council of Pissouri, shared the community’s concerns about the installation of PV park in agricultural land. This was followed by a small debate amongst students about the various parameters that need to be taken into consideration when it comes to the installation of a PV park.
The students were split into four different groups (each representing a different stakeholder – NGO, Agricultural Department, Energy Department, Local community) and examined a case study regarding the construction of a photovoltaic park.
The aim was for students to discuss the different factors that should be taken into account for the construction of photovoltaic parks (e.g., biodiversity, the country’s energy targets set by the EU, and environmental ethics overall), and also to understand the complexity and the oftentimes conflicting interests of different stakeholders.