A 110-million-euro investment by Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator (ADMIE) to expand the 400 kV grid in the southern Peloponnese province has “stumbled” onto opposition by a local convent.
According to sources affiliated with the semi-autonomous operator, the project is deemed as imperative for the Peloponnese’s energy stability and a key in commencing several so-called “green investments” worth several tens of millions of euros.
Nevertheless, the project was temporarily blocked until Dec. 16 by a first instance court in the mountainous town of Kalavryta, a date when an injunction motion will be heard.
Nuns at the Eastern Orthodox convent of the Agii (Saints) Theodori filed the initial motion to stop the construction of the last two high-voltage pylons of a specific power line, planned pylons that will be some 500 meters from the nunnery. Protests by the latter, in fact, have stalled completion of the last 2 percent of project for the past 14 months.
Delay tactics have included placing vehicles in front of construction machinery.
On their part, the plaintiffs claim the pylons will create a “visual annoyance” and also “offend the convent’s hesychastic (solitary meditative) character”.
