Environmental Impact Assessment of Onshore Wind Farms in the Region of Central Greece Using a Modified RIAM Method

Abstract

Wind energy is one of the most basic forms of renewable energy, which shows an increasing rate of development worldwide and also at the European level. However, this rapid deployment of wind farms makes the need for an impact assessment of this type of projects on the natural and man-made environment imperative. The present paper aims to identify and assess the environmental impacts of wind farm projects in the Region of Central Greece. A modified Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix (RIAM) method is used for this purpose. The methodology includes the identification of the existing onshore wind farm projects in the study area, the appropriate modifications of the RIAM method to respond to the characteristics of the projects and the study area, the qualitative assessment of their potential impacts during construction and operational phases and the computation of the Environmental Performance Grade (EPG) of projects based on the pro-posed modified RIAM method. The results reveal that although there are some slight negative impacts on the natural environment of the study area, the examined wind farms contribute positively both to the atmosphere and to the socio-economic environment of the study. This study extends the potential for using RIAM as a tool in environmental impact assessment studies of renewable energy projects.