Greens push for Mathiatis proposed PV park site to be declared national forest

The Green party on Tuesday initiated a move to assure protection of the Mathiatis pine forest after what is seen as a close call, with a proposed giant photovoltaic (PV) park installation that would have destroyed the area’s natural assets.

Party head George Perdikis, in a letter to the Department of Forestry requested that the pine forest, which exists mainly on government land, be declared a national forest.

The move comes on the heels of public uproar after it became known that business interests had proposed building the mammoth size 180MW PV park in the Lythrodontas, Kataliondas and Mathiatis triangle.

Local authorities, the hunter’s federation, and the communities involved, all voiced objections to the proposed Mathiatis project, which would cut across roads and require the felling of 1,400 established pine trees.

The southern border of the proposed development would abut a Natura 2000 area along the Gialia River, which hosts ten different ecosystems and various species of flora, reptiles, birds and bats.

Moreover, three other similar projects had been proposed in the region: one 800 metres away, another 1.5 km away, and a third 2.5 km away. The environment department has not objected to any of these and one project had already been greenlit, environmentalist groups said.

There are indications that the Mathiatis proposal will be dropped though installations in another area are to go ahead, according to the CyBC.

The federation of environmental organisations (Opok) has argued that the situation highlights the chaotic state of land use regulation and called for an urgent reform of legislation.

“Biodiverse, forested and fertile land areas adjacent to Natura 2000 sites are unsuitable for PV park installations,” Opok stated.

Stricter criteria should be imposed on PV park developments, considering all the consequences and impacts of their creation, Opok said.

Environmentalist groups have long sounded the alarm over the seemingly uncontrolled appropriation of large tracts of land for PV parks. Several communities have objected in the past and experiments with agrivoltaics installations – intended to protect the island’s agricultural capacity – were never pursued with any genuine zeal.

Ease of construction and operation leads PV park investors to target flat land with road access near transmission lines, which is one reason why agriculturally zoned land near communities, which is generally cheaper, is so highly coveted by green energy developers.

The Green party meanwhile announced they will inform the public about on the exact nature of the proposed Mathiatis PV project and its serious repercussions for the environment.

They will present the official, multi-page objection the party filed last week with the environment department.

“We invite citizens who protested online against the environmental destruction that the proposed project will cause to attend the open and public event organised by the local community councils,” the greens said in a statement.

The public meeting will take place on Friday, August 30, at 7pm, at the hall of the church of St. Barnabas in Mathiatis.