Panagiotis Psychogios Interview

Renewable energy study – Wind Turbines

2nd Junior High School of Amaliada, Greece

As part of the last year of our Erasmus+ project work, students of 2nd Junior High School of Amaliada, Greece, interviewed scientists, experts, politicians, activists and political scientists in 2019- 2020.

Panos Psychogios is a Civil Engineer and the director at PPsEngineering*  . Experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the civil engineering industry. Skilled in AutoCAD, Geotechnics, Cost Management, Earthworks, and Steel Structures. Strong professional with a MS focused in Civil Engineering from National Technical University of Athens.

Mr Panagiotis Psychogios was very happy to give this interview after we contacted him, and we had a wonderful and inspiring one hour teleconference connecting our Erasmus+ multi-purpose room in our school with the office of Civil Engineer and Expert on Wind Farms constructions Mr Panagiotis Psychogios. It is always wonderful to have such great personalities and specialists in our school! Students and teachers enjoyed it a lot!

*PPs is a leading Structural Consulting Engineering firm known for its innovative and quality work. They have an established and extensive presence both in Greece, and abroad, having undertaken numerous large and complex projects in the greater Balkan and European area.

The original live interview teleconference video uploaded on our youtube channel is in Greek.

You can find in the following pdf file the full trancript in English of the video-conference interview :

Download file

The following photos are kindly provided by mr Panagiotis Psychogios

photos copyright ©Panagiotis Psychogios PPS Engineering

Our students interviewed last year Mr Panagiotis Psychogios about manifacture, installation and use of renewable energy wind turbines.  Panos Psychogios as a very skilled and experienced civil engineer is very often responsible for the biggest arrays of large turbines, known as wind farms, who are becoming an increasingly important source of intermittent renewable energy and are used by many countries as part of a strategy to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

The live interview- teleconference with Mr Panagiotis Psychogios. Mr Psychogios is live from his office almost 300klm away, and we are in our Erasmus multi-purpose specially equipted classroom of our school , students and teachers of the Erasmus team of 2nd Junior High School of Amaliada Greece.

He explained everything from the making and carrying the enormous turbines parts, to the way the mountains and roads must be chosen and prepared for the transfer and installation of the turbines, and also answered students questions about the problems , ecological complications and malfunctions etc. We also talked about the debate of these years, how renewable and ecological are wind farms really in the end? We think we have a lot to improve in the future, if we want to make wind farms better. But for now, it is maybe one of the best solutions if constructed the right way in some areas. We also learned what is the “right” way. There are also so many restrictions like distances from residential  areas, monuments, archaeological sites, required height, soil, wind power, fauna and flora protection, environmental licensing, public acceptance etc

For example

Exclusion Zones for Wind Energy:

• Strict Nature Reserves & Nature Reserves
• National Park core zones, Aesthetic Forests
• Priority habitats of Natura 2000 (Dir 92/43/EEC) (Expansion of Natura 2000 Network -version 30, December 2017) >27% of the land area of the country belongs to Natura 2000 network .
• Ramsar Wetlands
• Sacred monuments of the world cultural heritage & other
monuments of major importance
• Inside town plans and settlements’ boundaries before 1923
or under 2000 residents
• Organized touristic areas and other production sectors etc,
theme parks, tourist ports
• Quarries and surface mining and extractive zones
• Bathing water of Ministry for Environment relevant
program
RES Spatial Planning article 6 & L.3937/2011 for biodiversity conservation

 

Environmental classification of Wind Farms according to impacts:

Category Α
«potential for significant impacts»
Category Β
«local, non-significant impacts»
0,02 MW < P < 5 MW*
Category Α1
P ≥ 60 MW
or P>30 MW @ N2000
or HV line ≥ 20 km
Category Α2
5 MW < P < 60 MW
and HV line < 20 km
* Exception include projects with P<0,02MW (e.g. within Natura 2000, near the seaside, next to other RES projects)

Natura Network 2000: www.ypeka.gr
 Studies for Natura 2000 sites:
http://www.ypeka.gr/Default.aspx?tabid=539&language=el-GR
 Important Bird Areas:
http://www.ornithologiki.gr/page_in.php?sID=68
 Information on a set of Protected Areas (Natura 2000, Ramsar Wetlands, small
island wetlands, wildlife shelters, etc.):
http://oikoskopio.gr/map/ (WWF)
 EU Guidance document:
Wind energy developments & Natura 2000
Demonstration of good practices to minimize impacts of wind farms on
biodiversity in Greece , LIFE12 BIO/GR/000554:
http://windfarms-wildlife.g

Here you can see the geoinformation maps with all nessecary data: 

http://www.rae.gr/geo/?lang=EN

http://www.rae.gr/geo/?tab=panel-1391

A big discussion has started, and what we surely understood during this project is that we always have to consult with the experts to form an opinion, or just publish all the important information that scientists and experts shared with us to make this discussion even more important. We are also very intrigued to keep searching for answers as this discussion was very inspiring. And one conclusion which is difficult to manage but students and teachers really changed after embrassing it: There are no easy answers and black-and-white truths. When dealing with scientific matters, protection of our life and planet , as well as studying technological evolution and industrial future, there are so many complicated factors to study that we really need to improve our communication and collaboration skills to have positive results in all areas.

Wind Potential and geographical distribution of applications for wind farms ©Nikos D. Hatziargyriou https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224652007_Wind_power_in_Greece_-_Current_situation_future_developments_and_prospects

It was so interesting that students kept him for more than an hour online through a teleconference platform to ask him all that they wanted. He was so analytic and positive, that he gave us so many information we think everybody will be very interested in his interview. We learned so many things we would never have guessed too!  He was very warm and also congratulated our students for their interest and their work in the project and was very glad to see and talk to them even through a web cam. We all felt very happy and honoured to have him in our school even in a big screen! We are going to publish the video, which is in Greek, in our “European Schools Go Green? youtube channel with an english summary of the answers, during this last summer of our project.

Thank you so much Mr Panagiotis Psychogios!!!!

Panagiotis Psychogios/ PPS engineering Honors & Awards

From start to finish, view the construction of a Hawaiian wind turbine generator in 100 seconds!

Video created by Matt Wessale and Hot Spot Productions. Matt Wessale worked as a field engineer for this project and is knowledgeable in all things related to wind farm construction and engineering