Galery

2

1

Victoria Mindova

Greece's ambitious project to build the largest photovoltaic park in Europe known as Helios project is facing serious problems. The lack of an accurate idea of ​​where the funding for such a large project will come from, who the investors will be, which the final consumer countries of the electricity will be and how the transfer structure will be supported are just some of the unknowns that make this project more utopian than real for the time being.

Greece is now planning to complete the administrative preparation of the project by the end of the year. The first part of the park, which will produce 300 megawatts, is expected to be installed in 2013. Financial experts of the Helios project promise that the return from a park with a capacity of 300 megawatts will be 9.7%. The share of Greece will be 35% and the price per kilowatt will be 0.13 euro. The Helios project provides for Greece to increase its production of electricity due to the photovoltaic installation by about 50 times. By 2020, it should jump to 2.2 gigawatts from the 206 megawatts in 2010 and the production volume should increase to 10 gigawatts in 2050.

It is planned in the pilot project of the park that initially 300 megawatt facilities should be installed Subsequently, exports of electricity from solar energy to Central Europe will begin shortly before 2015. So far, only Germany has demonstrated its strong interest in the importation of electricity from the Greek sun.

"We learned in Germany that the use of renewable energy is one of the most important methods to prevent climate change, and that it is a key driver of modernization, innovation, economic growth and new jobs," said the German Deputy Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Jürgen Becker, at a forum dedicated to the development of the Helios project.

Jürgen Becker is convinced that Greece has remarkable potential to develop the sector producing energy from renewable sources. Solar radiation in Greece is 40% higher on average than in Germany , according to the German Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Furthermore, the Mediterranean country has the highest installation levels of photovoltaic collectors per capita compared with the other European countries.

Greece’s aim to produce 2200 megawatts of electricity from renewable sources by 2020 could be achieved only if the necessary changes in the regulatory framework for the activities of such enterprises are made, and if targeted funding is secured. Greece now is providing its consumers with the most expensive electricity. One kilowatt costs between 29-59 euro cents in Greece. For comparison, one kilowatt in Germany varies between 17-24 euro cents. "Please, note that the price of electricity will be significantly reduced again next month," said the German Deputy Minister.

Germany is currently producing from renewable sources 20% of the consumed electricity. This growth has been achieved in just 12 years, when the legal and business framework for this type of electricity was first created. The aim of the German government is for the production of renewable energy to reach 35% by 2020 and 80% in 2050. Producing energy from renewable sources makes us less dependent on energy imports, said Jürgen Becker.

37,000 people work in the field of renewable energy sources. Investment in equipment for this type of activity in Germany reached 23 billion euro and their exploitation created a turnover of 30 billion euro. For 2011, Germany saved around seven billion euro from the use of fossil fuels to produce electricity.

Finally, Becker stressed that Germany is planning to use all available natural resources in northern Europe in order to establish its own production of clean energy. "Imports of electricity from solar collectors in Greece will only add to the German programme," he said, literally breaking the hopes of the Greeks for a brand new niche targeting Germany with guaranteed sales.

"The countries that will join the project, except Greece and Germany, should be specified; the necessary regulatory framework, in which the project will operate, should be adopted, and it should be specified how the electricity will be transported from Greece to the countries of northern Europe," stated the head of the Institute for Energy and Transport Giovanni de Santi. Greece is not able to bear the burden of implementing such a big project alone. Cooperation between public and private institutions on the principle of public-private partnership is required to implement the project, said the Financial Consultant of Helios Costas Karagiannis. The funding plans of the project include the European Investment Bank, which is ready to give guarantees of about 20% of the project cost or to issue bonds, which will finance the project. Entrepreneurs who participate in the construction of the photovoltaic park will finance 10% to 30% of its value. Then, public participation, European Union grants and additional private investment will be sought.

Helios remains a project that is hard, but not impossible, to implement. Optimism lies mainly in the support expressed by the European Commissioner Günther Oetinger. He said Europe wants Helios to be operational in order for it to become a pilot project for the change of energy production in the old continent. It can give the necessary impetus for the use of renewable energy sources to minimize the dependence of European countries on fossil fuels and reduce pollution.