By Maria Kagkelidou
GREECE is light-years away from achieving EU-mandated goals in clean, renewable energy, experts say.
Not only will the country default on an obligation to produce a fifth of its electricity from renewable sources three years from now, but it will also miserably fail to cover a fifth of its energy needs as a whole from renewables in 2020 if current trends continue. The problem, to a great extent, is bureaucracy.
"It will be nearly impossible for Greece to achieve its 2010 goal of producing 20 percent of its electricity by renewables," Dimitris Ibrahim, climate change spokesman for Greenpeace's Athens office, tells the Athens News. "We are currently producing just 11 percent of our energy from renewables - 8 percent of which comes from large hydroelectric projects. To achieve the goal, we must install an extra 2,600 megawatts [in production facilities] by 2010, but we are currently only installing around 100-200 a year," he adds.
John Agapitidis who heads the Centre for Renewable Energy Sources - the national renewables organisation which also acts as an advisor to the state - admits there are problems but is optimistic.
"It will be quite difficult to reach [our 2010 goal], but I believe we will come close to it," he tells the Athens News. "Precious time has been lost. We had to overcome a number of problems," he adds.
Obstacles persist
The problems Greece is facing in the runup to 2010 have been much publicised, with the main one being Greek bureaucracy. A renewables law voted through in June 2006 has resulted in some progress by shortening the wait time for investors to become fully licensed for production. But according to Costas Stambolis, president of the Institute for Energy in Southeastern Europe, bureaucratic obstacles remain.
"It takes around two years to go through the motions of getting a licence and only big companies can afford to take this time and devote an army of engineers to run around dealing with local authorities," he tells the Athens News.
Lengthy court cases have compounded the delays. Because Greece still lacks a comprehensive, nationwide, general land use plan and a specialised one for renewables, those who object to having installations in their area have been taking their cases to the Council of State, the country's highest administrative court.
The court has cancelled many intended investments, citing the lack of land use plans, which must be produced by the environment ministry.
Agapitidis says that a draft renewables land use plan presented by the environment ministry earlier this year is likely to ameliorate the situation. But it might take months for the plan to become law, depending on the timing of the upcoming general election. Renewables have also been plagued by the lack of an adequate power distribution system and the near-schizophrenic attitude many environmentalists have adopted.
"We are witnessing a contradiction. Teams that support the environment say yes to renewables, but when plans to install them in their area emerge, they react citing various pretexts, like that tourism will be adversely affected or absurd arguments that animal reproduction will be influenced," says Agapitidis.
2020 sci-fi target
The experts that the Athens News has spoken with all agree that to achieve Greece's 2020 target and have renewables account for 20 percent of the country's total energy production (which apart from electricity includes power needed for transport, heating and other purposes), revolutionary changes will have to take place.
"In 2006, renewables and waste accounted for 6.9 percent of Greece's energy production," Stambolis says, citing the International Energy Agency's 2006 figures and projections. "If current trends persist in 2020, this percentage will have been reduced to 5.6 percent."
The reduction is a result of the growing demand for electricity and transport, among other things. Stambolis explains that even though renewables will continue to expand, as things stand the use of conventional energy sources such as lignite and oil will also continue to grow.
"Demand for energy in 2004 was equal to 23.4 million tonnes of oil, but in 2020 it is forecast this figure will be 27.5 and in 2030 it will be 30.95. That's on a national level," he explains.
As a result, Greece will have to take drastic steps to realise its goals. "A revolution will have to take place for the 20 percent target to be achieved," Stambolis says.
Agapitidis apparently agrees with this assessment. "We will have to make serious moves regarding supply," he says. "If we do not manage - along with increasing the penetration of renewable resources - to reduce consumption or stabilise it at today's levels, then we will never be able to achieve these targets. So we need a revolutionary plan in which all social powers, all citizens will take part with all their might."
Stambolis thinks this will have to be accompanied by serious added incentives for companies to invest in renewables, including comprehensive tax cuts.
However, it seems that someone should inform Environment Minister George Souflias - who is in charge of coordinating Greece's climate change efforts - that he will have to go ahead with a revolution.
On March 13 Souflias appeared sublimely optimistic. "We estimate that in 2010 we might approach 20 percent - [renewables] currently account for 11 percent - which the European summit has set as a target for 2020," the environment minister told journalists during a press conference.
(Athens News, 16/03/2007)