Greece

Greece’s energy sector has been experiencing an ongoing policy reform fever in the last two years that is now extending to energy storage, net metering and small solar farms. The reforms will boost the country’s energy transition.

Statistics published by Greece’s leading solar association show the country constructed 913 MW of new photovoltaic systems last year. Meanwhile, Greece’s largest island has been connected to the mainland power network by what has been described as the world’s longest subsea AC cable.

The three Mediterranean countries of Greece, Cyprus and Israel signed this week an agreement to develop a subsea cable that links their electricity grids. Upon completion, the so-called EuroAsia Interconnector will be the world’s longest subsea power cable and could boost solar PV development in all three countries substantially.

Greek conglomerate Gek Terna has unveiled plans to deploy three large-scale floating PV plants at three different water reservoirs. Total investment in the projects is expected to amount to €170 million. Furthermore, the national utility PPC is reportedly planning to deploy another 50 MW and InterPhoton Group is considering to build a 500 MW facility.

Launched in November, the “saving-autonomous” program is currently seeing strong interest from homeowners. The program has an €850 million budget and is intended at enabling around 600,000 homeowners to make their houses more energy-efficient by 2030. It includes the installation of a rooftop PV system in the frame of a renovation project.

The German renewable energy developer secured the €130m project in a tender held by the Greek government.

Italian, Spanish and Portuguese scientists have published a study about energy consumption and the environmental footprint of the use of solar-hybrid irrigation systems in olive plantations in Portugal and Morocco.

The window for submitting applications to participate in Greece’s forthcoming solar PV and wind tenders in July has expired and Greece’s regulator has announced the number of applications it has received.

The European Council’s response to proposed European Commission reforms suggests that rules supportive of virtual net metering could be scrapped after pressure from Germany.

SP Orange Power, a subsidiary of the Chinese SPI Energy, has entered an agreement to purchase 100% of three different solar companies in Greece that own 7.4 MW of PV capacity.