Anyone vaguely interested in international news is probably aware of Greece’s economic crisis. But despite that, or perhaps because of that, the country’s Energy Minister has big plans for solar power.

According to a report on Bloomberg, Minister George Papaconstantinou said he expects that an agreement for a US$27bn solar power project will be finalized by the end of the year. The hope is to avert the possibility of a 5 per cent economic shrink in 2011, which will happen if government needs to default on its bonds.

The project in question is called Helios and it would see the installation of 10 GW worth of solar panels in the country. The country hopes to increase the share of alternative energy in its mix from the current 7 per cent to 18 per cent, including the introduction of feed-in tariffs.

Most of the funding will come from the EU, although the solar industry will be able to contribute 5 per cent of the total sum needed, said Solarworld CEO Frank Asbeck.

Bloomberg expects Greece may add 600 MW of solar capacity this year, or four times more than in 2010.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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Greek officials are calling for an ambitious expansion of solar power generation in their sunny country, hoping that large-scale production of renewable energy will generate significant revenues and green jobs for the country’s troubled economy.

Greek Energy Minister George Papaconstantinou says his country’s solar power plan, Project Helios, would boost Greece’s solar power production from a paltry 206 megawatts today to 2.2 gigawatts by 2020 and up to 10 gigawatts by 2050.

Speaking at an energy conference in Germany, Papaconstantinou said Greece is hoping to attract 20 billion euros ($28 billion) in foreign and domestic investment to launch Project Helios, which could export solar-generated electricity to other European states.

Papaconstantinou said that the potential for solar power generation in Greece is enormous, as the country enjoys 300 days of sunny weather a year — 50 percent more than Germany. At present, however, Germany’s solar power production is 80 times greater than Greece’s.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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As part of the European Union, Greece has been working diligently to meet European Union-wide renewable energy target. For Greece, this means increasing use of renewable energy by 18 percent of 2005 levels by the year 2020. Hydro power has often been seen as the most prominent source of renewable energy being used in the country; however, solar thermal and wind energy system have been on the rise along with geothermal heat. There have been a number of mechanisms put into place by the Greek government to stimulate cleantech growth, although few have been suspended due to the current economic climate in the country.

1) Center for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving. The Center for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving (CRES) is the main Greek body that deals with the promotion of sources of renewable energy and energy conservation. The main objective of CRES is the research, development and promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency applications at the national level. There are a number of divisions of CRES, including Renewable Energy Sources, Energy Efficiency, Energy Policy and Planning, Development Programs, and Financial and Administrative Services. CRES works in a number of renewable energy divisions, including photovoltaic, wind energy, biomass, geothermal, and hydrogen.

2) Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change 2010 Renewable Energy Bill. In 2010, the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change introduced a new renewable energy sources bill is earmarked as a vital step toward a new long-term plan for a sustainable energy policy and the development of the use of renewable energy. This bill ups the target to 40 percent by the year 2020 and surpasses the obligations listed by the European Union Directive for Renewable Energy created in 2009. The bill is hopefully going to send the country toward energy self-sufficiency. According to Tina Birbili, the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, “[Renewable energy sources are] essential, not only because Greece has a natural abundance of sun, sea and air which she needs to invest in but also because, beginning in 2013, we will need to start paying great penalties for emissions, which will also heavily impact energy prices for consumers.”

3) Using Renewable Energy to Regain Economic Stability. Starting in 2010 and for the next five years, Greece is looking to attract over €45 billion in investments into renewable energy. With the recent economic downturn and high unemployment rates, the government is looking to attract “green investment” to fix the economy. There is a large amount of renewable energy sources in Greece that are still untapped, and now the government wants to make it easier for investors to come in, including a liquefied natural gas and power plant project from Qatar.

4) Renewable Energy Businesses in Greece. There are a number of renewable energy businesses in Greece providing amenities for both the national and international markets. A majority of these businesses focus on solar energy. SolarLogic SA offers high efficiency solar energy products for home and commercial rooftops and solar parks. Bartec Solar Systems Industry is a manufacturer and exporter of solar water heating systems and components. Mavrou Bros Ltd. offers energy efficient HVAC and solar energy systems and have worked with a number of international companies, including LG Electronics and Mitsubishi.

5) Feed-in Tariffs in Greece. Greece has a few renewable energy feed-in tariffs to make it easier for investors to come in. Greece’s New Rooftop Photovoltaic Tariff is actually considered to be the best throughout the European Union. It provides €0.55/kWh, making it one of the highest and rivaling France and Switzerland. There is also a solar photovoltaic feed-in tariff and installation of wind turbines through the use of fixed ten year PPA and feed-in tariffs.

6) High Prevalence of Solar Energy. 99 percent of all private buildings in Greece use solar energy for hot water usage in kitchens, bathrooms, and other appliances. Greece is actually second in the entire world (behind Cyprus) to solar energy use. The reason for the high prevalence of solar energy can be attributed to a number of things. One of them is that unlike other European countries, like Italy and Spain, Greece does not have laws making it obligatory to utilize solar panels for water. This makes installation and operation a lot less expensive and more available to families. In Pefki, a town outside Athens, a number of social housing units received a “solar kit,” and now the town is known as the “shine floor” due to all the reflective solar panels.

7) Office Building Supplies 95 Percent of its own Energy. A five story building in Greece is slated to be one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the world. The building is said to produce absolutely zero emissions, not use any fossil fuels to run, and supplies 95 percent of its own energy through the use of solar and geothermal energy sources. It is a $2.1 million project that is said to pay for itself in approximately ten years. In the summer, the building kept itself at 72F at about $14 a day which is great savings for a large building.

8 ) Creation of Largest Photovoltaic Solar Park in World. The Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou announced in January of 2011 the creation of a solar photovoltaic park in Kozani. It is slated to be the largest in the world, providing an energy capacity of 200 megawatts. The investment costs around €600 million, employ over 500 employees, and reduce pollution by 300,000 tons annually. The park will provide enough energy for 55,000 homes.

9) Biggest Solar Farm in the World Possibly Coming to Greece. Public Power Corporation made an announcement in early 2011 that they are looking to build a large solar photovoltaic farm in Greece. The farm would have a generation capacity of megawatts and would be placed in Kozani. Public Power Corporation stated that this farm will not only reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 300,000 tons, but it will create 350 temporary and 200 new jobs in Greece. This solar farm will be larger than the current largest solar photovoltaic farm – 80 megawatt Sarnia photovoltaic power plant in Canada.

10) €12 Billion Invested into Environment and Energy to Boost Economy. In July 2010, Greece made the plan to invest €12 billion on a number of renewable energy projects by 2015 to assist with the economy. The objective of this investment is to attract further private investment and increase economic growth.

Article by Shawn Lesser, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association ”The Global Voice of Cleantech”. He writes for various cleantech publications and is known as the David Letterman of Cleantech for his “Top 10″ series. He can be reached at shawn@watershedcapital.com

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With ambitious renewable energy goals being set all across Europe, it seems that there are precious few European nations that have not made some effort to stand up and attempt to make a difference. Greece, a nation that has traditionally used several renewable energy resources as a means of generating electricity is among those that is working towards building a strong enough energy infrastructure within their country to meet certain standards. Now, the nation hopes to find a willing partner to develop some very significant solar power.

Public Power Corp SA, the largest provider of electricity in all of Greece, announced the other day that they intend to establish within the country one of the largest solar energy project in the world. The plan is to build a 200 megawatt photovoltaic power plant in the northern Greek city of Kozani. At the park, the Public Power Corp intends to have a solar panel factory built into the area in order to supply the panels necessary for the construction of the facility. In order to complete this project, which currently has an associated price tag of approximately $810 million, the corporation is hoping to find an international partner to invest into the project.

Though the company is seeking partners to develop the solar power park, they are no strangers to renewable energy within the country. Currently, Public Power Corp SA operates several hydroelectric, wind, thermal, and solar power sources throughout the country and aims to acquire and build more every year. The company has also stated that they are willing to pay a significant amount of money to purchase electricity from any newly established renewable energy sources in the country not currently run by the Public Power Corp SA in order to egg on the development of renewable energy throughout Greece.

So far, the Public Power Corp SA is hoping to have found their international partner for the project by this summer so that they can immediately being construction on the solar park. While an official date for the beginning of construction has not been released, the company expects to begin towards the end of 2011 and to take approximately eighteen months to complete the work.

Once completed, the solar park stands to not only generate a significant amount of renewable energy but also to reduce carbon emissions throughout the area significantly according to company figures. With any luck, Public Power Corp SA will find the partner they need sooner rather than later so that they can get their project up in running in due time.

Article by Richard Cooke, appearing courtesy Justmeans.

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These are the days for clean tech observers and professionals. Our most innovative companies are finally bringing game-changing technologies to market and into competitive parity on cost. The political will that has been lacking for decades seems to be gaining critical mass. Even corporate America seems to be on board with making a profitable shift to a green economy.

Still, it’s not all rosy in the green tech picture. Getting climate change legislation through the house was a bloodsport and, as previously noted on the CleanTechies Blog, the Senate looks increasingly unlikely to put anything substantial on the President’s desk this year. And that is just the new policy. Around the country, existing policies designed to enable clean energy adoption are floundering, and even with all of the aforementioned momentum, in a down economy policy makers cannot afford too many false starts.

The problems are rearing their head in every arena, even the most well-established and widely-accepted policy areas like the Renewable Portfolio Standard and other green power option programs. Last week, Austin Energy, the Texas utility announced that it still had more than 97% (that is not a typo) of its green power option capacity unsold. They attributed the slow sales to rising prices and the down economy, but the wrinkle is in what happens next. Since the green power option is a regulator-approved program, Austin Energy is entitled to receive full compensation for the green power they had to go out and secure on the forward market, even if premium sales under the program do not cover that cost. That means that every ratepayer is on the hook for the cost.

This is just one example of the unintended consequences that can occur when we are so anxious to adopt green programs that we make policy on the fly. The same sort of problems have been reported by CleanTechies and other leading green media channels in recent weeks with public charging stations for plug-in EVs. On their face, the stations are good for everyone involved: the utilities like the demand, consumers like the convenience,  and manufacturers like that the stations enable even the less passionate consumer to seriously consider a plug-in, and cities like the proactive “green” positioning. But, no one wants to pay for the power. And, who owns the equipment? How will the system integrate with existing utility infrastructure?

This is not dissimilar from the hurdles facing large-scale integration of renewable power in the US. We have innovation and investment lined up around the block for mega-scale wind and solar, so why isn’t the clean power coming online? Transmission capacity is insufficient and we can’t get new lines built.

The US isn’t alone in confronting the transmission hurdle. A Reuters story reprinted in the Boston Globe last week discussed Greece’s problems with bringing renewables online. The problem in Greece? According to government officials quoted in the story, its policy:

“Greece is notorious for its long licensing procedure…estimated at three to four years on average. The government has just passed a zoning law for renewables as well as approved new incentives for individuals to install solar panels on rooftops and sell the electricity, doing away with a licensing process that used to cost thousands of euros. Within the next two months, it plans to submit a law to shorten procedures for wind farms and small hydroelectric plants.”

No telling where that process will go, or what the new policy will really mean for investment and adoption, but until then the country will continue to rely on power from dust and smoke spewing power plants run off of the lignite that is strip-mined from the Greek countryside.

An industry that has always been hamstrung by pie-in-the-sky aspirations is now being crippled by a failure to deliver on the nitty-gritty (which is not to say that pie-in-the-sky is not still pulling too much of the attention and investment).

Here’s hoping that some of clean tech’s brightest minds and greatest innovators of the next generation will put aside the quest for the next killer app and take up the challenge on the public policy side. If the climate change fight is as grave a challenge as advertised then it is not too strained a comparison to say that what clean tech needs now are the kind of understated heroes that emerged in the civil rights fights of the 50’s and 60’s. We have our MLKs and JFKs, what we need now is a Thurgood Marshall. Is she out there?

[photo credit: Flickr]

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