Greece
’s Energy Minister George
Papaconstantinou unveiled a new strategy to encourage investment to make the
country a renewables hub and attract German capital into the debt-ridden
economy.
The plan is called Project Helios and involves increasing
solar power production in the country from 206MW in 2010 to around 10GW by
2050, according to the minister’s presentation.
Mr. Papaconstantinou pointed out that the country is ideally
placed to take advantage of solar as it has 300 days of sunshine each year and
almost 50 per cent more radiation than global sector leader Germany. The plan’s
realization will require significant foreign investment and includes the
leasing of state land free of any administrative or legal burdens for the
installation of solar plants.
Greece currently produces around eight per cent of its power
requirements from renewables, with the majority being wind energy.